HOME DEPARTMENT

PFI/PPP

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the difference was between the price offered in reaching preferred bidder stage and the final contract price for PPP contracts let by his Department in each of the last four years; and if he will make a statement.

Beverley Hughes: holding answer 25 March 2002
	From the best information available, the Department has one project classified as a Public Private Partnership (PPP), but figures are unavailable due to the contract value being based on demand and therefore subject to variation.

PFI/PPP

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the difference was between the price offered in reaching preferred bidder stage and the final contract price for PPP contracts let by his Department in each of the last four years; and if he will make a statement.

Beverley Hughes: holding answer 25 March 2002
	From the best information available, I list the differences between preferred bidder price and final contract price in Private Finance Initiatives (PFI) contracts let in the four years since 1 March 1998:
	
		
			 Year Net Difference £Million 
		
		
			 1/3/98–28/2/99 +0.7 
			 1/3/99–29/2/00 -22.0 
			 1/3/00–28/2/01 -4.1 
			 1/3/01–28/2/02 +0.5 
			 Total -24.9

Anglo-Italian Meetings

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department on how many occasions in the last six months (a) he and (b) his officials have met their Italian counterparts; and what subjects were discussed.

Beverley Hughes: holding answer 16 May 2002
	Home Office Ministers and officials participate on a regular basis in European and international fora at which their Italian counterparts are present. In particular, working groups of the European Union Member States meet routinely to discuss Justice and Home Affairs matters.
	Specifically, the Home Secretary met briefly with the then Italian Minister of Interior, Mr. Claudio Scajola, on 16 November 2001 during a meeting of the Justice and Home Affairs Council in Brussels.
	Two representatives of the Italian Ministry of Interior also visited the International Policy Directorate in the Immigration and Nationality Department on 14–15 January 2002 to discuss Italian proposals for the creation of a European border guard.

Correspondence

Tony Lloyd: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will reply to the letter of 15 May from the hon. Member for Manchester, Central, regarding Mr. G S, Ref 14130/02.

Beverley Hughes: I wrote to my hon. Friend on 19 August.

Correspondence

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will reply to the letter to him of 27 May from the hon. Member for South Cambridgeshire, regarding Mr. Peter Elliott, a constituent.

Beverley Hughes: holding answer 19 July 2002
	I wrote to the hon. Member on 26 July.

Correspondence

Michael Spicer: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will reply to the letter from the hon. Member for West Worcestershire of 21 January.

Hilary Benn: I apologise for the delay.
	A reply to the hon. Member was dispatched on 8 July 2002.

Correspondence

Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will reply to the letter to him dated 20 June from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Faia Ali Bafadhel.

David Blunkett: I wrote to my right hon. Friend on 22 July 2002.

Correspondence

Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will reply to the letter to him dated 22 April from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Pat McGuinness.

David Blunkett: I wrote to my right hon. Friend on 20 June 2002.

Correspondence

Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will reply to the letter to him dated 30 April from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Mrs. Sumerra Riaz.

David Blunkett: I wrote to my right hon. Friend on 5 September 2002.

Correspondence

Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will reply to the letter to him dated 10 June from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Mr. Elma Gzoub.

David Blunkett: I wrote to my right hon. Friend on 2 September 2002.

Correspondence

Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will reply to the letter to him dated 7 June from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Mr. Dave Burley.

John Denham: I replied to my right hon. Friend on 24 July 2002.

Correspondence

Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will reply to the letter to him dated 10 June from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Mr. Tikka Singh and Inda Kaur.

David Blunkett: My noble Friend Lord Filkin replied on my behalf on 9 August 2002.

Correspondence

Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will reply to the letter to him dated 10 June from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Saran Singh Taal.

David Blunkett: I wrote to my right hon. Friend on 22 July 2002.

Correspondence

Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will reply to the letter to him dated 29 May from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Mrs. A. Bibi.

David Blunkett: I wrote to my right hon. Friend on 23 August explaining that his letter had been transferred to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office who are responsible for dealing with the issues raised.

Immigration and Nationality Directorate

Virginia Bottomley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average waiting time is for acknowledgement of a passport when handed over the counter in Croydon.

Beverley Hughes: When a passport or other valuable document is handed into the Public Enquiry Office in Croydon, an acknowledgement letter is issued immediately by the counter officer, listing all of the documents received.

Border Controls

Jimmy Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent discussions have taken place on (a) common border controls for the EU and (b) action against the clandestine transportation of illegal immigrants through member states.

Beverley Hughes: We discuss migration and asylum issues with our European Union partners on a regular basis. At the Seville European Council on 21 and 22 June, Member States agreed a range of proposals to deliver more rapid progress on migration and asylum. These include measures to increase co-operation between Member States' national border guard services and to tackle illegal migration. Work is already under way to take forward these proposals.

Operation Street Cred

Ben Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of Operation Street Cred in the Wirral.

John Denham: Operation Street Cred is a new initiative launched by Merseyside Police on 19 June to tackle youth disorder in Wirral. It is too early to make an assessment of the scheme but I have asked Merseyside Police to keep me informed of progress.

Police Identification Procedures

Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average time is for fingerprint evidence to be processed in (a) England and Wales and (b) Thames Valley Police in each year since 1997.

John Denham: Figures for the average time for fingerprint evidence to be processed are not collated for England and Wales.
	Thames Valley Police Fingerprint Bureau has a target that fingerprint evidence should be processed within 14 days. For 2001, the 14 day target started from the point where the request to process the evidence is received by the Fingerprint Bureau. In 2002 the 14-day target starts from the point when the request has been allocated to a fingerprint expert within the Bureau. Thames Valley Police have only compiled statistics on the time taken to process fingerprint evidence for the last two years, their figures are:
	2001: Out of 622 cases, 97.9 per cent. of cases processed within 14.days.
	2002 (to date): Out of 354 cases, 99.2 per cent. of cases were processed within 14 days.

Police Identification Procedures

Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much has been spent on Identikit support in each police authority area in each year since 1997.

John Denham: This information is not held centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Internet Sites (Paedophilia)

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what action he is taking about UK internet sites used as an incitement to paedophilia.

Hilary Benn: holding answer 24 July 2002
	Incitement to commit a particular offence, for example of child abuse or of a child pornography offence, whether on a website or otherwise, can be dealt with under existing law. The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) provides a focal point for reporting material which appears to be illegal. They assess the material and refer any they agree appears illegal to the police for investigation and the Internet Service Provider (ISP) hosting the material, in order that the ISP can close off access to the offending material. Where the material is produced or hosted outside the United Kingdom, arrangements exist for notifying the relevant law enforcement agency and ISP.
	The IWF has also recently developed a policy on recommending ISPs to take down newsgroups that regularly contain, or whose names seem to advertise child pornography. We welcome this development and we will continue to monitor the position.
	The answer I gave to my hon. Friend the, Member for Scarborough and Whitby (Lawrie Quinn) on 16 July 2002, Official Report, column 230W, detailed the work of the Home Secretary's Task Force on Child Protection on the Internet, including its work toward developing new offences and models of good practice.

Youth Offending Teams

Win Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  what the population of the potential client group for each local authority with youth offending teams has been; how many offences have been recorded since the youth offending teams were set up; what the pro rata offence figures are; what the general, referral and drugs order funding was for 2002–03; and what the pro rata funding allocation for each offender was in that year;
	(2)  if he will publish the criteria for the way in which deprivation indices were calculated as part of the formula for funding youth offending teams in England and Wales, indicating differences in calculations made for youth offending teams in (a) England and (b) Wales.

Hilary Benn: holding answer 24 July 2002
	The Youth Justice Board's (YJB) funding is for Youth Offending Teams (Yots) not individual offenders. The payments for general, referral order and drugs work in 2002–03 took into account levels of deprivation (covering employment, income, average of ward scores, ward ranks, extent of deprivation and the local concentration of deprivation) the size of the 10–17 population within each Yot area and its geographical size. The deprivation indices were supplied by the Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions and are used as standard across Government. The formula was approved by the Home Office and the National Assembly for Wales.
	A copy of the Youth Justice Board's outcome decision document has been placed in the Library. The annexes show the size of the 10–17 population and the individual grants allocations. The YJB's data covers convictions not offences.
	For Welsh Yots, the Barnett formula was applied initially to arrive at the overall grant allocation for Wales. Individual allocations were then calculated by applying the YJB's funding formula.

Youth Offending Teams

Win Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will meet representatives of the Welsh Assembly Government, local authorities with youth offending teams in England and Wales, and the relevant, police, probation and health service bodies, to develop common criteria for assessing (a) funding needs and (b) the contribution of each partner to the work of the youth offending teams.

Hilary Benn: holding answer 24 July 2002
	The Youth Justice Board issue grants to Youth Offending Teams on the basis of a common funding formula. They first consult Youth Offending Teams (Yots), their statutory partners (including Local Authority Chief Executives) the Home Office and the National Assembly for Wales. But they recognise that the contributions of local statutory partners vary, and plan to put proposals to Ministers on how best to tackle this. There are no plans for such a meeting at present.

Deaths In Custody

Win Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many deaths in custody there were in each of the last 10 years broken down by prison service region, indicating (a) where these were challenged at the inquest and (b) how many challenges were successful.

Hilary Benn: holding answer 24 July 2002
	Details of deaths in custody for the last 10 years by current Prison Service area and function are set out in the tables. Figures for natural causes deaths are available from 1996 onwards. No information is held centrally about challenges at inquests.
	
		Table showing the number of self-inflicted deaths in England and Wales by Prison Service Area* between 01/01/1991 and 19/07/2002
		
			 Area  Calendar Year Total 
			  1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002  
		
		
			 North East 0 1 2 0 1 1 2 0 4 2 0 5 18 
			 Yorkshire and Humberside 2 4 4 8 5 6 3 11 7 11 3 6 70 
			 East Midlands 1 2 4 1 4 6 4 6 4 5 4 0 41 
			 Lancashire and Cumbria (North West) 3 0 0 3 3 3 9 3 4 3 1 3 35 
			 East Midlands (South) 0 4 3 3 1 2  1 4 4 3 1 26 
			 Manchester, Mersey and Cheshire (North West) 5 2 5 8 1 9 9 8 13 3 4 2 69 
			 Eastern 3 3 2 2 10 3 3 9 6 4 5 1 51 
			 West Midlands 6 3 0 3 4 7 2 4 9 10 5 5 58 
			 Wales 2 0 0 4 1 0 3 7 2 1 6 1 27 
			 South West 3 2 8 4 6 7 4 5 6 4 13 3 65 
			 Thames Valley, Hampshire and Isle of Wight (South East) 6 2 2 6 3 4 6 9 5 9 4 2 58 
			 Kent, Surrey and Sussex (South East) 0 4 3 2 7 4 7 5 4 2 6 4 48 
			 London 6 8 4 11 2 6 4 3 6 12 8 4 74 
			 Women's Prisons and Young Offender Institutions 0 2 1 3 4 1 2 5 4 8 5 3 38 
			 High Security Prisons 5 4 8 3 7 4 8 7 7 2 4 7 66 
			 Juveniles 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 4 
			 Prisoner Escort Custody Service 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 5 0 1 0 9 
			 Total 42 41 47 61 59 64 68 83 91 81 73 46 756 
		
	
	*This table represents Prison Service areas as they currently stand.
	Note:
	Not all self-inflicted deaths result in a suicide verdict at inquest
	
		Table showing the number of natural causes deaths in prisons in England and Wales by Prison Service Area between 01/01/96 and 19/07/02
		
			 Area  Calendar Year Total 
			  1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002  
		
		
			 North East 1   1 1 4 2 9 
			 Yorkshire and Humberside 3 3 2 3 3 5 1 20 
			 East Midlands 2 3 3 5 2 1 2 18 
			 Lancashire and Cumbria (North West) 5 2 2 6 6 2 2 25 
			 East Midlands (South) 1 1  1 2 1 1 7 
			 Manchester, Mersey and Cheshire (North West) 3 1 4 3 3 9 2 25 
			 Eastern 8 5 4 4 5 3 4 33 
			 West Midlands 4 3 2 4 2 3 1 19 
			 Wales  1 2 1 1 2  7 
			 South West 3 6 4 9 5 4 3 34 
			 Thames Valley, Hampshire and Isle of Wight (South East) 5 5 6 7 5 6 3 37 
			 Kent, Surrey and Sussex (South East) 5 8 4 4 5 2 4 32 
			 London 3 1 6 3 4 4 2 23 
			 Women's Prisons and Young Offender Institutions 3 1 1 2 1 1 2 11 
			 High Security Prisons 8 8 4 4 11 12 4 51 
			 Prisoner Escort Custody Service   1 1 
		
	
	
		Table showing the number of homicides in prisons in England and Wales by Prison Service Area between 01/01/91 and 19/07/02
		
			 Area  Calendar Year Total 
			  1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 2000  
		
		
			 Yorkshire and Humberside  1 1   2 
			 Lancashire and Cumbria (North West)   1 1  3 
			 Manchester, Mersey and Cheshire (North West)1  1 
			 Eastern  1 1 11  4 
			 West Midlands 11   2 1 5 
			 Wales  1   1 2 
			 London 1 1 
			 High Security Prisons 1  1 2 1 1 1   7 
		
	
	
		Table showing the number of use of force deaths in Prison Service for England and Wales by area between 01/01/91 and 01/01/96
		
			  1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 
		
		
			 London 1   1 1 
			 South West 1 
			 West Midlands 1 
		
	
	Note:
	a) There were no use of force deaths in the other regions in this period.
	b) There have been no such deaths since 1995.

Offenders (Clinical Audits)

Win Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the institutions being (a) built and (b) extended to deal with offenders; and whether these will be equipped with the appropriate information technology to enable high quality clinical audits to be carried out.

Hilary Benn: holding answer 24 July 2002
	The Youth Justice Board for England and Wales (YJB) is responsible for commissioning and purchasing juvenile offender secure accommodation from the Prison Service, private sector secure training centres (STC) and local authority secure children's homes, and for setting and monitoring standards.
	This year 32 additional places have been opened at Rainsbrook Secure Training Centre and 32 more are due to open at Medway. The STC contracts require trainee personal medical records to be kept to support medical care and investigations, to inform contractors' annual reports and to facilitate any reports needed by courts. The STCs use information technology to maintain these records.

Mobile Telephone Theft

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of robberies recorded by the police in each of the 10 robbery hotspots involved the theft of a mobile phone in the latest period for which figures are available.

John Denham: Centrally the Home Office does not collect or collate statistics on mobile phone robberies or thefts. Individual police forces do not all routinely collect such figures either, however some do for their own purposes.
	Home Office Research Study 235, deposited in the Library, dealt with mobile phone theft and robbery. Information was collected from six police forces on the number of thefts and robberies involving mobile phones for the period 1998–99 to 2000–01. Five of these forces are participating in the street crime initiative covering the 10 forces where the robbery problem is most acute. The proportion of robberies involving the theft of a mobile phone in these force areas is set out in the table.
	
		Proportion of robberies involving mobile phones: 1998–99 to 2000–01
		
			  1998–99 per cent. 1999–2000 per cent. 2000–01 per cent. 
		
		
			 Metropolitan Police 12 21 36 
			 West Midlands 7 15 24 
			 Avon and Somerset 4 11 20 
			 Greater Manchester 5 11 20 
			 Lancashire 3 8 13 
		
	
	Source:
	Harrington V., and Mayhew, P. (2001). Mobile Phone Theft. Home Office Research Study 235

Prisons

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) adult males, (b) women and (c) juveniles were remanded into Prison Service custody in each of the last 12 months for which figures are available.

Hilary Benn: The available data are given in the table which shows the number of people received into Prison Service custody as untried prisoners every quarter since April 2001.
	
		
			Males by age  All females 
		
		
			 Year Quarter All ages Aged under 21 Age 21 and over  
			 2001 Apr–Jun 12,500 3,300 9,200 1,050 
			  Jul–Sept 12,600 3,300 9,300 1,150 
			  Oct–Dec 13,700 3,500 10,200 1,150 
			 2002 Jan–Mar 13,300 3,300 9,900 1,190 
		
	
	All data shown are provisional and rounded.

Prisons

Paul Stinchcombe: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will publish for each prison the results achieved by the Prison Service on each of its key performance indicators during 2001–02.

Hilary Benn: The final key performance indicator (KPI) results achieved by each prison are given in the table, a copy of which has been placed in the Library. The cost per uncrowded prison place KPI is formulated at overall Prison Service level. The costs in the table are establishment costs only, which exclude Headquarters overheads and the figures are not therefore comparable with the Prison Service cost per place KPI. Costs for private prisons include an element of capital repayment and are not comparable with the public sector. Staff in private prisons are excluded from the Prison Service staff sickness KPI.
	A summary of the performance of each prison is given in the Prison Service Annual Report and Accounts for 2001–02.

Asylum Seekers

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average cost of providing (a) cash-only support and (b) full support was per asylum seeker in the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement.

Beverley Hughes: The information is not available in the form requested. The average cost of supporting an asylum seeker for one week was:-
	£122* for a single person and,
	£278* for a family.
	Those receiving cash only support receive the following amounts each week. Levels of support with effect from 8 April 2002
	Qualifying couple   £59.26
	Lone parent aged 18 or over   £37.77
	Single person aged 25 or over   £37.77
	Single Person aged at least 18 but under 25   £29.89
	Person aged at least 16 but under 18
	except a member of a qualifying couple)   £32.50
	Person aged under 16   £33.50
	*Rounded to nearest £1

Asylum Seekers

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the extra cost of providing full support to those asylum seekers currently receiving cash-only support; and if he will make a statement.

Beverley Hughes: There are currently no plans to restrict the ability for asylum seekers to apply for cash only support. If in the future it is decided to do this a full appraisal of the costs and benefits involved will be undertaken.

Asylum Seekers

Peter Lilley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many individuals have been detected through the matching of fingerprints as having made two or more applications for asylum in each year since 1993.

Beverley Hughes: I refer the right hon. Member to the answer I gave on 18 July 2002, Official Report, column 552W, which provided a cumulative total of the number of individuals detected since 1993. I regret that information requested is not available in any other form.

Asylum Seekers

Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of failed asylum seekers were removed in the last year for which figures are available; and what the benchmark is against which delivery of the improvement, set out in the Public Service Agreement for which he is responsible, is to be measured.

Beverley Hughes: holding answer 19 July 2002
	The proportion of those removed in 2001–02 that were refused in the same period is only available by examination of individual case files at disproportionate costs.
	11,500 failed asylum seekers and their dependants were removed in the last financial year.
	As part of the Public Service Agreement process, the Treasury and spending departments agree, in the Technical Notes, the definition of the target and how its achievement will be measured. Following the same process as last time, the Spending Review 2002 Technical Notes will be agreed with the Treasury during the summer and published in the autumn.

Asylum Seekers

Iain Coleman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many asylum seekers previously placed in Yarl's Wood detention centre are now detained in Her Majesty's prisons; and if he will make a statement.

Beverley Hughes: Immigration detainees who are assessed to pose a control and security risk may be transferred from Immigration Service removal centres to prison accommodation in line with established policy. This will include a number of detainees who were held at Yarl's Wood at the time of the incident together with individuals held at other removal centres. In this respect, as in all others, detainees who were held at Yarl's Wood are not being treated differently to detainees held elsewhere, nor are they being recorded separately. Exact figures for the number of former Yarl's Wood detainees currently held in prison accommodation could be obtained only by examination of individual records at disproportionate cost.

Asylum Seekers

Jimmy Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many asylum seekers were dispersed to Glasgow in 2001; and how many applications for asylum since 1997 have been (a) granted and (b) refused.

Beverley Hughes: As at the end of December 2001, 4,750 1 , 2 asylum seekers (including dependants) were being supported in National Asylum Support Service (NASS) accommodation in Glasgow. The cumulative number dispersed to Glasgow in 2001 is not currently available.
	Information on the number of applications for asylum since 1997 which subsequently resulted in the granting of asylum or Exceptional Leave to Remain (ELR), or refusals, is not readily available, and could only be obtained by examination of individual case records at disproportionate cost.
	1 Figure rounded to the nearest 10 2 Cases where support has been ceased are excluded from this figure
	Information for 1997 to the first quarter of 2002 on applications for asylum, and initial decisions made, is shown in the table. (However these initial decisions do not all relate to applications made between 1997 and quarter one 2002). A proportion of applications that receive an initial refusal result in an appeal being lodged.
	
		Table 1: Applications received for asylum in the United Kingdom, and initial decision 1   2  1997—Quarter 1 2002
		
			  Applications received 3  Initial Decisions 4   Cases considered under normal procedures 5 Granted asylumGranted ELRRefused  Backlog clearance exercise 6 Granted asylum or ELR under backlog criteriaRefused under backlog criteria 7  
		
		
			 1997 32,500 36,045 3,985 3,115 28,945 - - 
			 1998 46,015 31,570 5,345 3,910 22,315 - - 
			 1999 71,160 33,720 7,815 2,465 11,025 11,140 1,275 
			 2000p 80,315 109,205 10,375 11,495 75,680 10,325 1,335 
			 2001p 71,700 118,195 10,960 19,510 87,725 - - 
			 2002 8  p 19,520 23,105 2,085 6,060 14,965 - - 
			 Total 321,210 351,845 40,565 46,555 240,655 21,470 2,605 
		
	
	(1) Figures rounded to the nearest 5, with * =1 or 2
	(2) Decision figures do not necessarily relate to applications received in the same period.
	(3) May exclude some cases lodged at Local Enforcement Offices between January and March 2000.
	(4) Information is of initial decisions, excluding the outcome of appeals or other subsequent decisions.
	(5) Cases considered under normal procedures may include some cases decided under the backlog criteria.
	(6) Cases decided under measures aimed at reducing the pre 1996 asylum application backlog.
	(7) Include some cases where the application has been refused on substantive grounds.
	(8) Data are available only for the period January to March 2002.
	(p) Figures for 2000, 2001 and 2002 are provisional and subject to change.
	Information on asylum applications and initial decisions is published quarterly. Data for the second quarter of 2002 will be available from 30 August 2002 on the Home Office website at http://www. homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration1.htm

Immigration Cases

Jacqui Lait: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many immigration cases are awaiting allocation to a case worker following receipt of application documents; for how many years the largest outstanding case has been waiting; and how many are from addresses in Beckenham constituency.

Beverley Hughes: I regret that the information requested is not available. We aim to decide 70 per cent. of all new general immigration applications on initial consideration within three weeks. At present such applications are taking on average around four weeks to decide but we are working to reduce this to three weeks as soon as possible. Applications that cannot be decided on initial consideration are allocated to a case management unit for further consideration. Some of these applications are, at present, taking up to 12 months to consider due to the large number of cases currently in the system. It is not possible to identify applications from addresses in Beckenham without scrutiny of individual case files at disproportionate cost.

Emergency Services (Deaths)

Andrew Selous: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many deaths resulted from the failure of police and fire services to arrive at their destinations (a) on the day of the recent London Underground strike and (b) the same date in the previous year.

John Denham: We are not aware of any police or fire service vehicles that failed to reach their destination on the days of the London Underground strike on 17 and 18 July 2002.

Freemasons (Police)

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the Government's policy on Freemasons in the police force.

John Denham: Voluntary arrangements for the declaration of freemasonry membership have been established for the police, the judiciary and other parts of the criminal justice system. The Government have made no decisions about the format of and arrangements for public access to any registers.

Freemasons (Police)

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many officers in (a) the Metropolitan Police, (b) Leicestershire Police and (c) Nottinghamshire Police have declared themselves to be Freemasons.

John Denham: A voluntary survey of freemasonry membership was conducted by forces in 1999. From information provided by forces, the response rate was 34.4 per cent. in the Metropolitan Police Service and 35.1 per cent. in Leicestershire. This includes officers, support staff and special constables in both forces. Of those individuals who responded, 1.83 per cent. in the Metropolitan Police Service and 0.71 per cent. in Leicestershire declared that they were members of the freemasons.
	Information in respect of Nottinghamshire Police is not available.

Foreign Students

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many foreign students have received visas to enter the UK to work as seasonal workers in agriculture in each of the last five years, broken down by nation and region.

Beverley Hughes: The available information relates to the total number of persons who have been granted leave to enter the United Kingdom on the Seasonal Agricultural Scheme. Scheme participants must be students in full-time education and aged between 18–25.
	The table shows the number of admissions into the United Kingdom by nationality for the period 1996–2000 inclusive. Information is not available for 2001.
	
		Table 1. Agricultural Workers Given Leave to enter the United Kingdom, excluding EEA Nationals, by nationality, 1996–2001(1)
		
			 United Kingdom Number of Persons 
			  1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 
		
		
			 Bulgaria 510 1,150 1,050 1,190 1,290 
			 Cyprus ¡ – – – ¡ 
			 Czech Republic 210 300 270 270 250 
			 Slovak Republic 540 830 790 310 370 
			 Hungary 60 70 110 90 100 
			 Malta – – – – – 
			 Poland 2,120 3,660 3,690 3,470 3,200 
			 Romania 130 280 190 320 310 
			 Estonia 90 160 180 120 120 
			 Latvia 90 230 250 290 340 
			 Lithuania 710 1,250 1,430 1,370 1,250 
			 Russia 290 190 110 130 210 
			 Ukraine 540 790 1,010 1,670 1,840 
			 Other former USSR 70 140 150 210 420 
			 Switzerland ¡ ¡ – ¡ ¡ 
			 Turkey 50 40 20 30 20 
			 Yugoslavia ¡ ¡ – ¡ ¡ 
			 Croatia – ¡ ¡ ¡ – 
			 Slovenia ¡ ¡ 10 ¡ ¡ 
			 Other former Yugoslavia 30 50 80 140 120 
			 Other Europe – – ¡ ¡ ¡ 
			 TOTAL EUROPE 5,440 9,160 9,340 9,610 9,860 
			 Argentina – – ¡ ¡ ¡ 
			 Barbados – – – – – 
			 Brazil ¡ ¡ – – ¡ 
			 Canada – ¡ – – ¡ 
			 Chile – – – – – 
			 Colombia – – – – – 
			 Guyana – – – – – 
			 Jamaica – – – ¡ – 
			 Mexico – – – – – 
			 Peru – – – – – 
			 Trinidad and Tobago – – – – – 
			 USA – ¡ ¡ – ¡ 
			 Venezuela – – – – ¡ 
			 Other Americas ¡ ¡ ¡ – ¡ 
			 TOTAL AMERICAS ¡ 10 10 ¡ 10 
			 Algeria – – – – – 
			 Angola ¡ ¡ – – – 
			 Congo Democratic Republic – – ¡ – – 
			 Egypt ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ – 
			 Ethiopia – – – – – 
			 Ghana 10 10 10 10 10 
			 Kenya 10 ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ 
			 Libya – ¡ – – – 
			 Mauritius – – ¡ – – 
			 Morocco ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ 
			 Nigeria ¡ ¡ – ¡ ¡ 
			 Sierra Leone ¡ ¡ – – – 
			 Somalia – – – ¡ – 
			 South Africa – – – ¡ ¡ 
			 Sudan – – – – – 
			 Tanzania 20 10 10 ¡ 10 
			 Tunisia ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ – 
			 Uganda ¡ – ¡ ¡ ¡ 
			 Zambia – – – – – 
			 Zimbabwe – – – – – 
			 Other Africa 10 10 10 20 30 
			 TOTAL AFRICA 80 60 40 60 50 
			 Bangladesh ¡ ¡ – ¡ – 
			 India ¡ – ¡ ¡ ¡ 
			 Pakistan ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ – 
			 TOTAL INDIAN SUB-CONTINENT ¡ ¡ ¡ 10 ¡ 
			 Iran – ¡ – – – 
			 Iraq – – – – – 
			 Israel – ¡ – – – 
			 Jordan – ¡ ¡ – – 
			 Kuwait – – – – – 
			 Lebanon – ¡ – – – 
			 Saudi Arabia – – – – – 
			 Syria – – – – – 
			 Yemen – – ¡ – – 
			 Other Middle East ¡ ¡ ¡ – – 
			 China ¡ – – 10 30 
			 Hong Kong BDTC/BN(O) – – – – – 
			 Hong Kong Stateless – – – – – 
			 Indonesia – – – – – 
			 Japan ¡ ¡ ¡ – ¡ 
			 Malaysia – – ¡ – – 
			 Philippines – – – – ¡ 
			 Singapore – – – – – 
			 South Korea – – – – ¡ 
			 Sri Lanka ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ 
			 Taiwan – – – – – 
			 Thailand – – ¡ – – 
			 Other Asia ¡ ¡ ¡ 30 110 
			 Non-ISC Asia 10 20 10 40 140 
			 TOTAl ASIA 10 20 10 50 150 
			 Australia ¡ – ¡ 10 ¡ 
			 New Zealand – ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ 
			 Other Oceania – – – – – 
			 TOTAL OCEANIA ¡ ¡ 10 10 ¡ 
			 British Overseas Citizens – – – – – 
			 Stateless N–E–S– 10 30 40 30 30 
			 All Nationalities (EXL-EEA) 5,550 9,280 9,450 9,760 10,100 
		
	
	(1)All figures rounded to the nearest 10, or if above 1000 to the nearest 3 significant figures.
	– 0
	¡ 5 or less

Foreign Students

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  what regulations are in force relating to (a) the employment of foreign students as seasonal workers in agriculture, (b) the standards of welfare and accommodation provided for foreign students employed as seasonal workers in agriculture and (c) remuneration of foreign students employed as seasonal workers in agriculture;
	(2)  which authority is charged with supervising standards of accommodation welfare and remuneration of foreign students employed as seasonal workers in agriculture.

Beverley Hughes: The Seasonal Agricultural Workers' Scheme (SAWS) is administered under Home Office oversight by seven approved operators.
	A Code of Practice sets out the obligations of all those involved. The recruitment of workers is the responsibility of the operators. Operators must ensure that farmers provide suitable accommodation and access to recreational activities, such as the opportunity to learn English. Operators are also responsible for ensuring that farmers adhere to minimum pay regulations set out by the Agricultural Wages Board. The Board cannot set a minimum rate that is below the National Minimum Wage. Operators may withdraw workers mid-season and exclude farmers from the scheme if they do not provide suitable pay and accommodation.

Silverlands, Chertsey

Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what arrangements are in place to recover his Department's investment in the refurbishment of Silverlands, near Chertsey, from the Department of Health.

Beverley Hughes: The Home Office is in discussions with the Department of Health about recovering funds expended on Silverlands and this will take into account the increase in the value of the property.

West Midlands Police Service

Andrew Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much money has been given to the West Midlands Police Service by his Department in each of the last eight years.

John Denham: The amount of money allocated to the West Midlands Police Authority is as follows:
	
		Government funding
		
			  Home Office Police grant Revenue support grant (1) National non domestic rates (1) Home Office Crime Fighting Fund Total Change 
			  £million £million £million £million £million per cent. 
		
		
			 1995–1996 163.2 83.2 49.5 0 295.9 6.2 
			 1996–1997 172.3 83.2 54.4 0 309.9 4.7 
			 1997–1998 175.3 90.0 52.0 0 317.3 2.4 
			 1998–1999 190.2 93.5 51.4 0 335.1 5.6 
			 1999–2000 191.3 95.9 55.0 0 342.2 2.1 
			 2000–2001 198.1 94.2 60.8 2.8 355.9 4.0 
			 2001–2002 (2) 205.6 101.3 60.3 7.7 374.9 5.3 
			 2002–2003 (2) 206.2 96.9 65.2 11.8 380.1 3.8 
		
	
	(1) Police Authorities receive National Non Domestic Rates and Revenue Support Grant from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister
	(2) The figures for 2002–03 are not directly comparable with 2001–02. The National Crime Squad/National Criminal Intelligence Service are now funded centrally, rather than through police authorities. On a like-for-like basis the comparable total for 2001–02 would have been £366.2 million. The year on year percentage change in 2002–03 is calculated on the like-for-like basis.
	In addition, the following grants have also been made:
	Capital 
	Under present arrangements, capital grant is paid to police authorities. Grant also continues to be paid towards the annual loan charges on capital sums borrowed under earlier grant rules.
	
		
			 Year Capital grant (£million) Loan charges grant (£million) 
		
		
			 1995–1996 6.1 0.6 
			 1996–1997 4.8 1.4 
			 1997–1998 4.5 1.6 
			 1998–1999 3.9 1.1 
			 1999–2000 3.9 1.0 
			 2000–2001 4.3 1.0 
			 2001–2002 4.1 0.6 
			 2002–2003 4.4 0.6 
		
	
	
		Individual payments
		
			  Purpose £ 
		
		
			 1997–1998 Police Firearms grant 70,126 
			 1998–1999 Police Firearms grant 19,246 
			 1998–1999 Riot damages policing 75,000 
			 1998–1999 G8 Summit policing 1,143,000 
			 1999–2000 Beacon scheme 99,800 
			 2000–2001 Combating robbery 3,300,000 
			 2000–2001 DNA Expansion Programme 420,000 
			 2000–2001 Execution of warrants 236,757 
			 2000–2001 Fuel Distribution Emergency 1,141,350 
			 2000–2001 NATO Conference 100,000 
			 2001–2002 National Intelligence Model 276,573 
			 2001–2002 DNA Expansion Programme 3,059,498 
			 2002–2003 DNA Expansion Programme 4,719,520* 
			 2002–2003 Special grant to tackle street crime 1,880,000** 
		
	
	*Estimate at this stage and not yet paid.
	**Capital grant of £240,000 and revenue grant of £820,000 for first half year was paid on 31 July 2002. The balance will be paid later in the year.
	Crime Reduction Programme
	Under the Crime Reduction Programme over £26.7 million has been allocated since 1999 for projects in the West Midlands under the Reducing Burglary Initiative (£3.466 million), Targeted Policing Initiative (£1.754 million), Partnership Development Fund (£3.869 million), Domestic Violence Initiative (£1.2 million), Working in Schools Initiative (£2.4 million), CCTV Initiative (£14 million) and the Prostitution Initiative (£0.076 million).

Non-Lethal Weapons

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the non-lethal weapons approved for use by police forces.

John Denham: Police forces have CS incapacitant spray, a variety of truncheons and the L21A1 baton round to use as less lethal options. These have all been extensively tested. The Police Reform Act 2002 introduces powers to enable the Secretary of State to make regulations to ensure that forces only use equipment that has been approved.

Dr. Ali Dizaei

Peter Bottomley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will (a) estimate the cost of the investigation and (b) list the original reasons for the investigation given to the media, into Dr. Ali Dizaei; and if he will make a statement. (25133)
	 Question number missing in Hansard, possibly truncated question.

John Denham: I refer the hon. Member to my reply of 19 July 2001 relating to the costs of the investigation. The Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis informs me that the Metropolitan Police briefing to the media on 18 January 2001 said that Superintendent Dizaei had been suspended from duty on a significant number of counts of misconduct, following information received relating to a range of alleged disciplinary and criminal issues that covered matters of dishonesty, attempting to pervert the course of justice, personal misconduct and integrity.
	Following Superintendent Dizaei's appearance at Bow Street Magistrates' Court on 28 January proceedings commenced and, as such, sub judice applies.

Retail Crime

David Lepper: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the correlation between (a) retail crime and street crime and (b) retail crime and drug abuse.

John Denham: Research carried out by the Home Department about the correlation between crime against retailers and street crime offences has been based on interviews with 1,884 prisoners in custody, carried out in February and March 2000. The full results of this survey are expected to be published later this year.
	In a study carried out in London, Liverpool, Nottingham and Sunderland in 1998–99, 64 per cent. of those arrested for theft from shops tested positive for opiates (including heroin) and 41 per cent. tested positive for cocaine. When interviewed, 85 per cent. of those arrested for shop theft reported using heroin or cocaine in the previous year.
	In a study carried out on behalf of the Drug Prevention Advisory Service between October 2000 and March 2001, 23 per cent. of the 19,190 arrestees who sought advice on drug or alcohol addiction had been arrested for shop theft. Similarly, 38 per cent. of those who sought advice admitted shop theft to be a main source of income, whilst 48 per cent. admitted shop theft in the previous 30 days.
	The survey of crime affecting retailers and manufacturers announced by my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary on 23 April, the results of which should be available next spring, will also provide up to date information about crimes against retailers.

Retail Crime

Brian Cotter: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what measures he is taking to address the problem of violence against shop staff.

John Denham: The Home Office is working with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to raise awareness of the need to tackle work related violence as part of the Health and Safety Commission's three-year programme of work (2000–03) to help reduce the incidence of work-related violence. The HSE published "Work-related violence: managing the risk in smaller businesses" on 9 July 2002. The publication includes 10 case studies on reducing risk of violence to staff. The HSE has also published specific guidance for the retail sector "Preventing Violence to Retail Staff". "Don't Discount Crime", a new user-friendly crime reduction guide for retailers became available in May 2002. This is being circulated among their members by retail trade organisations (including the British Retail Consortium), who were actively involved in deciding its content and design. It is of particular relevance to small retailers and includes basic guidance on what steps to take to reduce crime as well as what to do in crime situations.

Retail Crime

Brian Cotter: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his answer of 14 May 2002, Official Report, column 605W, on retail crime, to the hon. Member for Brighton, Pavilion (Mr. Lepper), if he will list for each regional crime reduction director, the annual budget for crime reduction in (a) 2001–02 and (b) 2002–03.

John Denham: I refer the hon Member to the answer I gave the hon Member for Castle Point (Bob Spink) on 22 July 2002, Official Report, column 863W.

Retail Crime

Brian Cotter: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what study has been made of the link between alcohol and drug-related violent crime against retail staff.

Bob Ainsworth: No study has been undertaken to look specifically at the link between alcohol and drug related violent crime against retail staff. However, we are aware from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) ninth annual survey published this year of their concerns about the level of crime affecting retailers and the concerns they have that this is being driven by theft by drug and alcohol abusers. We are carrying out a commercial crime victimisation study of retail and manufacturing sectors later this year (the first for ten years). This will give a firm basis for identifying the main crime problems affecting business and give valuable indicators of the best ways to tackle these issues.

Emergency Services (Refits)

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  what steps are being taken to ensure that all vehicles and control rooms are refitted by 2004–05 in the (a) police forces and (b) fire services;
	(2)  what is (a) the cost to date and (b) the projected cost of refitting vehicles and control rooms in the (i) police forces and (ii) fire services;
	(3)  how much funding has been allocated to (a) the police forces and (b) the fire services to ensure that all vehicles and control rooms are refitted by 2004–05;
	(4)  what the timetable is for (a) fund allocation and (b) the refitting of control rooms and vehicles for (i) the police forces and (ii) the fire services.

John Denham: On 19 July 2000, the Home Secretary announced that the Government had provided £500 million to meet the costs of the new police radio system, "Airwave" (formerly Public Safety Radio Communications System, PSRCS).
	Over the three years of the settlement, £191 million of capital funding has been made available for forces to spend on costs associated with Airwave installation and preparation, for example the refitting of control rooms and vehicles. A further £141 million in revenue funding has also been allocated for "one-off" preparation costs.
	The Airwave programme consists of a phased national roll-out, determined by the forces and the main contractor in consultation with the Police Information Technology Organisation (PITO). The timetable for fund allocation is linked to this roll-out timetable. The capital allocation is released in advance, at an appropriate time, so that forces are ready for their roll-out date.
	The service will replace existing radio systems with modern digital technology by 2005 in England and Wales extending to Scottish forces in 2006.
	On 7 May, the Government announced that they would manage, support and fully fund a new national competition for the procurement of a national radiocommunications system for the fire service in England and Wales.

Police Officers

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many assaults on police officers there were, and what percentage were in each police authority, in 2000–01.

John Denham: The numbers of recorded crimes of assault on a constable for 2000–01 and the percentage of these in each police force area, are given in the table.
	Certain forces (including West Midlands) have moved to a more rigorous crime recording practice before or during 2000–01, in which a larger proportion of crimes reported to them are recorded. This may be a factor, along with the relative sizes of each force, in explaining why some forces' figures are larger than others.
	
		Assaults on a constable recorded by the police, 2000–01
		
			 Police Forces Offences Recorded Percentage of national total 
		
		
			 Avon and Somerset 312 1.1 
			 Bedfordshire 210 0.8 
			 Cambridgeshire 238 0.9 
			 Cheshire 483 1.7 
			 Cleveland 133 0.5 
			 Cumbria 145 0.5 
			 Derbyshire 571 2.0 
			 Devon and Cornwall 646 2.3 
			 Dorset 287 1.0 
			 Durham 107.7 3.8 
			 Essex 352 1.3 
			 Gloucestershire 261 0.9 
			 Greater Manchester 1905 6.8 
			 Hampshire 636 2.3 
			 Hertfordshire 304 1.1 
			 Humberside 509 1.8 
			 Kent 620 2.2 
			 Lancashire 1239 4.4 
			 Leicestershire 315 1.1 
			 Lincolnshire 178 0.6 
			 London, City of 30 0.1 
			 Merseyside 1429 5.1 
			 Metropolitan Police 1367 4.9 
			 Norfolk 405 1.4 
			 Northamptonshire 331 1.2 
			 Northumbria 1171 4.2 
			 North Yorkshire 426 1.5 
			 Nottinghamshire 477 1.7 
			 South Yorkshire 923 3.3 
			 Staffordshire 748 2.7 
			 Suffolk 255 0.9 
			 Surrey 266 1.0 
			 Sussex 891 3.2 
			 Thames Valley 802 2.9 
			 Warwickshire 258 0.9 
			 West Mercia 587 2.1 
			 West Midlands 3234 11.6 
			 West Yorkshire 1488 5.3 
			 Wiltshire 276 1.0 
			 Dyfed-Powys 261 0.9 
			 Gwent 641 2.3 
			 North Wales 445 1.6 
			 South Wales 868 3.1 
			 ENGLAND AND WALES 28000 100.0

Police Communications

Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment his Department has made of claims by police officers of adverse effects on their health since the installation of the new telecommunications masts in the North West of England.

John Denham: Prior to the Trade and Industry Committee report on Mobile Phone Masts the Home Office had asked the National Radiological Protection Board (NRPB) to assess the health and safety aspects of the TETRA technology used by Airwave. The NRPB report concluded that it is unlikely that the unique features of TETRA pose a hazard to health. The Home Office has nonetheless set up a comprehensive research programme to ensure that any residual health and safety concerns that have been received by forces and users are addressed. This includes consultation with epidemiologists and with experts in occupational health.

Criminal Records Bureau

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the laid down period for the Criminal Records Bureau to process an application for a disclosure; how long it is taking to process applications; and if he will make a statement.

Hilary Benn: holding answer 25 June 2002
	The Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) has published a set of customer service standards in relation to its response times for Disclosure applications:
	
		
			  
		
		
			 Timelines of service 90 per cent. of Enhanced Disclosures issued within three weeks 
			  95 per cent. of Standard Disclosures issued within one week 
			  95 per cent. of Basic Disclosures issued within one week 
		
	
	Disclosure Services,
	— 382,884 Disclosure applications have been initiated.
	— From these, 191,782 Disclosures have been issued.
	— It is estimated that 40–50 per cent. of Disclosures are being issued within the three-week service standard for telephone applications (target 90 per cent. for Enhanced Disclosures). About 50 per cent. of both telephone and postal applications are being issued within five weeks.
	The Criminal Records Bureau reviews its service standards regularly and accepts that it is currently not meeting these service standards. The Criminal Records Bureau is not yet meeting service standards. To address this, it has introduced a performance improvement plan including: revised procedures, recruitment of additional staff, improved management arrangements and extending working hours; a data entry backlog had been outsourced to Hays Plc's Chennai (India) data processing centre. Special procedures have been introduced for the most urgent cases.
	As at 17 March 2002

Criminal Records Bureau

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much money is owed within the Criminal Records Bureau; and (a) by and (b) to whom it is owed.

Hilary Benn: As at 31 March 2002 the Passport and Records Agency owed £1,387,126.28 to Capita in unpaid invoices.

Criminal Records Bureau

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average time between receipt of a communication by the Criminal Records Bureau and an answer being sent has been in the last year.

Hilary Benn: holding answer 25 June 2002
	The Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) offers three different ways to contact the Bureau—by telephone, by post or by email. The CRB aims to deal with all enquiries quickly and efficiently. Its target is to answer 90 per cent. of all telephone calls within 20 seconds. For week beginning 7 July 2002 the calls answered within target were 88 per cent., which represents an improvement on previous performance.
	The CRB aims to reply to all emails that are sent to the CRB Website address within 24 hours of receipt and indications are that this target is being currently met.
	The CRB aims to provide a response to written correspondence within one week of receipt. At present there is no information available to confirm to what extent this target is being met, as the details are not collated centrally.

Criminal Records Bureau

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent steps he has taken to improve the performance of the Criminal Records Bureau.

John Denham: The Criminal Records Bureau has introduced a performance improvement plan including: revised procedures, recruitment of additional staff, improved management arrangements and extending working hours; a data entry backlog had been outsourced to Hays Plc's Chennai (India) data processing centre. Special procedures have been introduced for the most urgent cases.

Criminal Records Bureau

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment has been made of the costs to voluntary organisations of becoming registered bodies with the Criminal Records Bureau due to (a) charges and (b) administration costs.

Hilary Benn: The fees to become a registered body were announced on 15 February 2001. There are one-off charges of £300 for registration, and of £5 for each additional counter-signatory nominated by the registered person. The administrative costs incurred by registered bodies will depend upon a range of factors including the size of the organisation and the number of applications to be processed.

EU Committees (Scottish Executive Representation)

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the EU Committee for the European Refugee Fund (ERF) is next due to meet; whether representatives of the Scottish Executive (a) have been and (b) are members of it; and if he will make a statement.

Bob Ainsworth: A date for the next meeting of the European Union (EU) Committee for the European Refugee Fund has not yet been set. It is likely that the next meeting will take place some time in the autumn.
	The Committees consist of a representative of each Member State who may be accompanied by additional experts at the expense of the individual Member State. In practice, the United Kingdom is represented on each Committee by a Home Office official and an official from the United Kingdom Permanent Representation to the EU in Brussels.
	Immigration and asylum matters are reserved subjects and consequently officials from the Scottish Executive have not been members of, and have not attended, the European Refugee Fund Committee. The Scottish Executive is however consulted as necessary on the policy issues arising from the implementation and functioning of the funding programmes.

Christopher Alder

Peter Pike: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will set up a public inquiry into the events surrounding the death of Christopher Alder in police custody in 1998 and subsequent events; and if he will make a statement.

John Denham: I would refer my hon. Friend to the letter dated 5 July that he received from my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary. Until a decision about whether disciplinary proceedings are to be instigated has been taken and any disciplinary action which might emerge has been completed, it would not be appropriate to consider any request for a public inquiry.

Christopher Alder

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what action his Department has taken following the killing of Mr. Christopher Alder in Hull Police Station; what representations have been received from Mr. Alder's family; what has been the response; and if he will make a statement.

John Denham: I refer my hon. Friend to my letter to him of 15 August 2002, a copy of which is in the Library.

Antisocial Behaviour Orders

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many antisocial behaviour orders have been issued in London broken down by (a) London borough and (b) London constituency; and if she will make a statement.

John Denham: holding answer 24 July 2002
	An anti-social behaviour order (ASBO) is a civil order made by a court which currently can be applied for by a local authority or the police. The table shows the number of notifications received by the Home office of ASBOs issued within Greater London by local government authority up to December 2001. Data are not collected by constituency area.
	
		Number of anti-social behaviour orders reported to the Home Office which have been issued as from 1 April 1999 to 31 December 2001 within Greater London by local government authority
		
			 Area From 01-Apr-99 to 31-May-00 (1) From 01-Jun-00 to 31-Dec-00 From 01-Jan-01 to 31-Dec-01 Total 
		
		
			 Police Force Area / MCC(2) 
			 Metropolitan Police(3) / 
			 GLMCA(4) 9 19 13 41 
			 Local Government Authority 
			 London Borough (LB)(5) 
			 Barnet .. - 2 2 
			 Bexley .. 2 - 2 
			 Bromley .. 1 - 1 
			 Camden .. 5 1 6 
			 Croydon .. 1 - 1 
			 Greenwich .. - 3 3 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham .. - 2 2 
			 Hackney .. - 1 1 
			 Lambeth .. 1 - 1 
			 Lewisham .. - 2 2 
			 Newham .. - 2 2 
			 Sutton .. 3 - 3 
			 Westminster .. 6 - 6 
		
	
	(1) Total figure only available for Metropolitan police force area within this period. Local Government Authority not known.
	(2) MCC—Magistrates' Courts Committee area.
	(3) Including City of London.
	(4) Greater London Magistrates' Courts Association.
	(5) Only those LBs reporting an ASBO in the period shown are listed.
	.. Not available.

Antisocial Behaviour Orders

Joan Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate has been made of the success of antisocial behaviour orders in cutting (a) vandalism, (b) crime, (c) nuisance behaviour and (d) prostitution and other related activities.

John Denham: The Home Office review of anti-social behaviour orders (ASBOs) found that ASBOs are successful in reducing anti-social behaviour, and can also act as a deterrent. The review's findings indicate that graffiti and criminal damage were addressed in 36 per cent. of ASBOs, criminal behaviour was addressed in 22 per cent., noise nuisance was addressed in 28 per cent. and prostitution was addressed in five per cent.

Police Telephone Response

Adrian Flook: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average waiting time is for a telephone call to a local police station which is answered by the central answering service for Avon and Somerset Police.

John Denham: Management of call-handling in Avon and Somerset is the responsibility of the Chief Constable.
	The Chief Constable has informed me that callers to the Avon and Somerset Communications Centre at Portishead, in June 2002, would have waited, on average, 30 seconds.

Detection Rates

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which police authorities have the (a) highest and (b) lowest detection rates in England and Wales; and if he will make a statement.

John Denham: The information requested is as follows.
	
		Detection rates—2001–02
		
			  
		
		
			 Highest Dyfed Powys 64 per cent. 
			 Lowest Metropolitan Police 14 per cent. 
		
	
	The overall detection rates are not the best indicator of police performance because detection rates can be affected by a number of factors, including changes in the mix of crime types in a force area. Variations across the country remain worrying, however, and the Police Standards Unit is working with forces to address this.
	Numbers of detections rose across England and Wales by 2 per cent. in 2001–02. There were rises in numbers of detections in all crime types except for fraud and forgery—for example, numbers of detections for: burglary rose by 6 per cent.; robbery by 19 per cent. and violent crime by 3 per cent. Once the increase in numbers of crimes due to changes in police recording are taken into account, the detection rate in England and Wales appears stable. Detection rates in 11 forces improved, while a further eight forces showed no change in their detection rates.

Weekend Imprisonment

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the use of weekend imprisonment in other countries.

Hilary Benn: During the review of the sentencing framework ("Making Punishments Work"—July 2002), the team looked overseas to see how other jurisdictions had handled or dealt with the issues involved in sentencing reform. Of particular interest to the review, in contemplating possible changes to the framework in England and Wales, were those jurisdictions, which had examples of flexible sentences including differing forms of intermittent custody. An analysis of the review's findings is contained in Appendix 4 to the report.

Chief Inspectors

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on pay and responsibilities for the rank of chief inspector within the police service.

John Denham: It is for the Secretary of State to determine the pay of police officers of all ranks in England and Wales. In doing so, he is required to take into account any recommendation made by the Police Negotiating Board (PNB), the statutory negotiating body, on which all the main police organisations are represented, including the Police Federation, which represents the interests of chief inspectors.
	There is a national salary scale for chief inspectors. Currently, there are five points on the chief inspectors' scale, ranging from £39,153 to £42,309 outside London, and from £40,761 to £43,911 in London. Where individual chief inspectors are placed on that scale depends on a number of factors, including when they attained the rank of chief inspector, the length of time they have spent as chief inspectors and the length of time they spent in the rank of inspector.
	Under a PNB Agreement reached on 9 May, and approved by the Secretary of State, changes to the pay scale of chief inspectors will be implemented from 1 April 2003. With effect from that date, there will be only three salary points for chief inspectors, one for chief inspectors who were in post on 31 August 1994, and two for all other chief inspectors. Chief inspectors who were in post on 31 August 1994 will receive £42,711 outside London and £44,313 in London. All other chief inspectors will start on £40,362 (£41,973 in London), the first point of the scale, and then progress to £41,973 (£42,780 in London). Once they have completed a year at the top of their scale, chief inspectors will be eligible for the new competence-related payment of £1,002 a year.
	Chief inspectors perform a range of duties and responsibilities, and while many of the activities are common, there will be different responsibilities for operational and detective officers. All officers in the rank of chief inspector are required to exhibit leadership and management qualities and to take on responsibility for community safety and local crime initiatives, which includes developing local crime and disorder strategies. Operations chief inspectors would be responsible for developing, implementing and monitoring local crime and disorder plans, for formulating contingency plans for major incidents, and for managing public order and major incidents. Detective Chief Inspectors would primarily be responsible for managing and advising on criminal investigations.

Police Ranks

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) sergeants, (b) inspectors and (c) chief inspectors there were in March 2000; and how many he estimates there will be in Spring 2003.

John Denham: On 31 March 2000 there were 18,500 sergeants, 5,941 inspectors and 1,574 chief inspectors in the police service in England and Wales.
	We have set a target for there to be 130,000 police officers by March 2003 and are on track to achieve this. It is for individual chief officers of police to determine, within available resources, the number of officers there should be in each rank.

Police Custody Deaths

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his answer of 12 July 2002, Official Report, column 1248W, how many of the deaths resulted in (a) an internal inquiry, (b) an external inquiry and (c) compensation being paid to the next of kin of the victims.

John Denham: All deaths in police custody are subject to a full police investigation. Where such a death occurs the police are required to refer the investigation to the Police Complaints Authority (PCA) for supervision. It is the responsibility of the PCA supervising member to approve the appointment of the Senior Investigating Officer (SIO), either from the force where the death occurred or from another force, and to agree the terms of reference for the SIO covering the parameters of the investigation. The PCA recently published their supervision manual which sets out the Authority's approach to supervision and the standards its supervising members will apply.
	Under the Police Reform Bill the PCA will be replaced by a completely new body called the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC). The IPCC will be at the heart of a new police complaints system, the key objective of which will be to increase public confidence and trust in the way in which complaints against the police are dealt with. In order to achieve this the IPCC, which will be wholly independent of the police and which will have its own investigating teams, will be able to choose to investigate complaints itself. There will also be improved access to the complaints system for complainants, and significantly greater disclosure of information to complainants.
	Information about the number of deaths that resulted in compensation being paid to the next of kin of the victims is not collected centrally.

Commercial Poppy Growing

Tam Dalyell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department for what purpose commercial poppy growing has been licensed in Hampshire; and if he will make a statement.

Bob Ainsworth: Approximately 400 hectares of opium poppies are being grown in the United Kingdom, mostly in Hampshire, to provide some of the raw material required for the manufacture of medicines such as codeine and morphine. The amount represents but a small proportion of the total required, which is sourced mainly in Australia, India, Spain and Turkey.
	This is the first time opium poppies have been grown commercially in this country for medicinal purposes, although smaller amounts have been grown traditionally for culinary use of the seeds and for dried flower arranging.
	Cultivation of the opium poppy is not subject to the licensing requirements of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 but details are furnished to the International Narcotics Control Board under the estimating and statistical provisions of the United Nations Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, 1961. The process is being monitored by the Home Office Drugs Branch which has arranged for police to be informed of the growing sites.

Criminal Justice and Court Services Act

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many parents have been imprisoned as a result of their children's truancy under the provisions of the Criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2000.

Hilary Benn: The availability of imprisonment on a sentence in cases where parents who know that their child is not attending school and have taken no reasonable steps to secure their attendance came into force on 1 March 2001.
	Statistics for 2001 will be available in the autumn.

Mahmoud Abu Rideh

John Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what action he will take following the statement of Mr. Justice Collins at the Special Immigration Appeals Commission regarding the condition of Mahmoud Abu Rideh and if he will make a statement.

Beverley Hughes: Further psychiatric assessments of Mr. Abu Rideh have been carried out and a warrant authorising his transfer to Broadmoor was signed on 19 July, after approval of the Home Secretary. Mr. Abu Rideh is now in Broadmoor and is receiving treatment.

Public Service Agreements

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many and what proportion of the public service agreements of his Department set out in the document "Public Services for the Future 1998" have been met; and if he will make a statement.

Beverley Hughes: holding answer 10 July 2002
	The comprehensive spending review undertaken in 1997–98 produced 31 targets for the Home Office over the period April 1998–March 2001. Out of these 31 targets 19 have been achieved (61.30 per cent.), six have been transferred to other Government departments as a result of machinery of Government changes (19.35 per cent.) and six have been rolled forward (19.35 per cent.).
	Out of the 19 that have been achieved, many have been incorporated into Public Service Agreement, Spending Review (PSAs) or Service Delivery Agreement (SDAs) through the SR2000 process. Out of the six that were rolled forward, five did not have completion dates within the timescale of 1998–2001 and have been extended into PSAs or SDAs in the SR2000 process, with more clearly defined dates and targets.
	The Home Office Annual Report was laid before Parliament in July and outlines in more detail performance against targets. The attached tables outline which targets have been met and which have been rolled forward.
	
		Table 1: 1998–2000 Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) Targets and their Amendments
		
			 1998 CSR PSA* Target Amended SR2000 PSA* Target (See also Table 2) 
		
		
			 1. To reduce vehicle crime from its current level by 30 per cent. within 5 years. Rolled forward. 
			  1. Reduce the key recorded crime categories of: 
			  —Vehicle crime by 30 per cent. by 2004 
			  —Domestic burglary by 25 per cent. with no local Authority area having a rate more than three times the national average, by 2005; and 
			  —Robbery in our principal cities by 14 per cent. by 2005. 
			 2. An improvement in police efficiency of 2 per cent. a year. Achieved—target rolled forward. 
			  17. Ensure annual efficiency gains by police forces are worth in total at least two per cent. of overall police spending in that year. 
			 3. Launch the new evidence based crime reduction programme. Achieved 
			 4. Tackle domestic violence through a range of practical measures including increasing public awareness, improving agencies' response and developing an information base. Achieved—target contributing to new PSA. See PSA target 1 in Table 2. 
			 5. Agree an annual target, with the United Kingdom (UK) Anti Drugs Co-ordinator, for the police to ensure efficient and effective action against drug suppliers Achieved. (Now incorporated as SDA in PSA 4) 
			 6. Publish survey results on levels of fear of crime and set targets for improvement in specific areas Achieved—target rolled forward into new PSA. See target 2 in Table 2. 
			 7. Reduce the time taken from arrest to sentence or other disposal. Specific targets set. 
			  8. Reduce by 2004, the time from arrest to sentence or other outcome by: 
			  —Reducing the time from charge to disposal for all defendants, with a target to be specified by 31 March 2001; 
			  —Dealing with 80 per cent. of youth court cases within their time targets; and 
			  —Halving from 142 to 71 days by 2002 the time taken from arrest to sentence for persistent young offenders and maintaining that level thereafter. 
			 8. Reduce the time taken from arrest to sentence for persistent young offenders from 142 days to 71 days Achieved. See target 8 in Table 2 below. 
			 9. Improve the satisfaction levels of victims and witnesses with their treatment in the CJS. 7. Improve by five percentage points the satisfaction of victims and witnesses with their treatment by the CJS by 2002 and thereafter at least maintain that level of performance. 
			 10. Reduce the number of terrorist incidents securing effective well-co-ordinated and proportionate anti-terrorist policies Achieved 
			 11. Prepare new UK-wide anti-terrorism legislation Achieved 
			 12. Develop closer and more effective international co-operation to counter terrorism Achieved. This has become a Service Delivery Agreement and is ongoing. 
			 13. Increase the percentage of identified crime groups: under Achieved—target rolled forward into new PSA. 
			 investigation; in respect of which arrest have been made; in respect of which prosecutions have been brought; and which have been dismantled. 4. Disrupt 10 per cent. more organised criminal enterprises by 2004. 
			 14. Ensure the two-year reconviction rate for those receiving community sentences remains below the rate predicted for those offenders. 9. Reduce the rate of reconviction: 
			  —Of all offenders punished by imprisonment or community supervision by five per cent. by 2004 compared to the predicted rate; and 
			 15. Reduce the reconviction rate for persistent young offenders. —Of all young offenders by five per cent. by 2004 compared to the predicted rate. Achieved. 
			 16. Improve supervision programmes run by the probation service and prison regimes that require offenders to face up to their offending behaviour, and introduce a system of independent accreditation covering probation as well as prison programmes Achieved. Forms supporting SDAs to reconvictions target (no. 9) 
			 17. Double the number of completions of accredited offender behaviour programmes (OBP) from 3,000 to 6,000 a year by 2001–02, including an increase from 680 to 1100 in those completing sex offender programmes (SOTP) Achieved—target rolled forward. (SOTP target not achieved). This has become a Service Delivery Agreement under target 9. 
			 18. Reduce the proportion of discharged prisoners who are at Level 1 or below for literacy and numeracy skills by 15 per cent. by April 2002 Achieved—this has become part of the Service Delivery Agreement and reworded to read: Increase the educational and vocational qualifications of offenders with: 
			  —23,400 accredited educational/vocational qualifications in 2001–02 and 36,200 in 2003–04 including an increase in the number of level 2 basic and key skills awards from 18,000 to 21,000 in the Prison Service; and 
			  —12,000 completions of level 2 basic skills awards in 2003–04 with 6,000 completions in 2002–03 in the Probation Service. 
			 19. Reduce the rate of positive random drug tests from a 20 per cent. target in 1998–99 to 16 per cent. in 2001–02; and to provide access to voluntary drug testing for all prisoners by April 2002 Achieved. Further extended as SDA to reduce to 10 per cent. by 2004. 
			 20. Pilot Drug Treatment and Testing Orders; provide treatment for problem drug users in prison which is then followed through under post-release supervision; increase number of offenders entering treatment programmes as a result of arrest referral schemes and post-release supervision Achieved. Roll-out of orders, arrest referral etc. has become a Service Delivery Agreement. 
			 21. Maintain existing performance of no escapes by high risk prisoners; and the overall rate of escapes from prisons to be no higher than 0.17 per cent. of average prison population. Achieved — target rolled forward into new PSA. 10. Maintain the current low rates of prisoner escapes including no category A escapes. 
			 22. Promote race equality and develop new indicators to measure improvement. Achieved—target rolled forward into new PSA and indicators developed. 
			  16. Promote race equality, particularly in the provision of public services such as education, health, law and order, housing and local government, and measure progress by the annual publication of Race Equality in Public Services, a set of race equality performance indicators across the public sector; and achieve representative workforces in the Home Office and its police, probation and prison services. 
			 23. Set targets by June 1999 to increase the number of people from ethnic minorities in Home Office and its services Achieved - now incorporated into PSA 16. See target 16 in Table 2. 
			 24. Increase the quantity and quality of people's involvement in their community and ensure fulfilment of the vision of the Giving Age. 15. Make substantial progress by 2004 towards one million more people being actively involved in their communities. 
			 25. Incorporate the European Convention on Human Rights into UK law Achieved. Transferred to Lord Chancellor's Department July 2001 
			 26. Improve the level of public confidence in the democratic process, through the introduction of PR for European elections; by legislating for the registration of political parties; by introducing a new system of controls on political party funding; and by carrying out a review of electoral procedures and making recommendations during 1999 Transferred to Lord Chancellor's Department July 2001 
			 27. Introduce legislation providing for freedom of information Achieved. Transferred to Lord Chancellor's Department July 2001 
			 28. Reduce the time taken to final decision of asylum applications to six months by April 2001. 13. Ensure that by 2004, 75 per cent. of substantive asylum applications decided within 2 months. 
			 29. Reduce fire related deaths in the home by 20 per cent. by 31 March 2003, from an average starting point of 380 a year Transferred to Department of Transport, Local Government and the Regions July 2001 
			 30. Reduce the number of fires by 31 March 2002 to a level lower than that currently projected on long-term trends (projected levels: 608,100 pa– 633,500 pa) Transferred to Department of Transport, Local Government and the Regions July 2001 
			 31. Improve fire service efficiency by two per cent. a year Transferred to Department of Transport, Local Government and the Regions July 2001 
		
	
	*Public Service Agreement
	
		Table 2: PSA Target for 2001–04 with cross-reference to Table 1
		
			 PSA Target Amended from 1998 target number: Present Status 
		
		
			  1 Ongoing 
			 1. Reduce the key recorded crime categories of:   
			 —Vehicle crime by 30 per cent. by 2004;   
			 —Domestic burglary by 25 per cent. with no local authority area having a rate more than three times the national average, by 2005; and   
			 —Robbery in our principal cities by 14 per cent. by 2005.   
			 2. Ensure by 2004 that the levels of fear of crime in the key categories of violent crime, burglary and car crime, reported in the British Crime Survey (BCS), are lower than the levels reported in the 2001 BCS. 6 Ongoing 
			 3. Reduce by 2004 the economic cost of crime, as measured by an indicator to be developed by March 2001. New Ongoing 
			 4. Disrupt 10 per cent. more organised criminal enterprises by 2004. 13 Ongoing 
			 5. Improve the level of public confidence in the CJS by 2004, including improving that of ethnic minority communities. New Ongoing 
			 6. Increase the number and proportion of recorded crimes for which an offender is brought to justice. New Ongoing 
			 7. Improve by 5 percentage points the satisfaction of victims and witnesses with their treatment by the CJS by 2002 and thereafter at least maintain that level of performance. 9 Ongoing 
			 8. Reduce by 2004, the time from arrest to sentence of other outcome by: 7,8 Ongoing 
			 —Reducing the time from charge to disposal for all defendants, with a target to be specified by 31 March 2001;   
			 —dealing with 80 per cent. of youth court cases within their time targets; and   
			 —halving from 142 to 71 days by 2002 the time taken from arrest to sentence for persistent young offenders and maintaining that level thereafter.   
			 9. Reduce the rate of reconviction: 14,15,16,17,18 Ongoing 
			 —of all offenders punished by imprisonment or community supervision by 5 per cent. by 2004 compared to the predicted rate; and   
			 —of all young offenders by 5 per cent. by 2004 compared the predicted rate.   
			 10. Maintain the current low rates of prisoner escapes including no Category A escapes. 21 Ongoing 
			 11. Reduce the proportion of people under the age of 25 reporting the use of Class A drugs by 25 per cent. by 2005 (and by 50 per cent. by 2008). New Ongoing 
			 12. Reduce the levels of repeat offending amongst drug-misusing offenders by 25 per cent. by 2005 (and by 50 per cent. by 2008). 19,20 Ongoing 
			 13. Ensure that by 2004, 75 per cent. of substantive asylum applications are decided within two months. 28 Ongoing 
			 14. Enforce the immigration laws more effectively by removing a greater proportion of failed asylum seekers. New Ongoing 
			 15. Make substantial progress by 2004 towards one million more people being actively involved in their communities. 24 Ongoing 
			 16. Promote race equality, particularly in the provision of public services such as education, health, law and order, housing and local government, and measure progress by the annual publication of Race Equality in Public Services, a set of race equality performance indicators across the public sector; and achieve representative workforces in the Home Office and its police, probation and prison services. 22 Ongoing 
			 17. Ensure annual efficiency gains by police forces are worth in total at least two per cent. of overall police spending in that year. 2 Ongoing

Accommodation Centres

David Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what child welfare frameworks and inspection regimes will apply to accommodation centres under the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Bill; and to what extent it is his policy that the provisions of the (a) Children Act 1989, (b) Children (Scotland) Act 1995, (c) Care Standards Act 2000 and (d) Regulation of Care (Scotland) Act 2001 will apply.

Beverley Hughes: holding answer 10 May 2002
	I will write to my hon. Friend.

Accommodation Centres

John Barrett: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the answer of 3 July, on accommodation centres, when (a) he and (b) representatives of his Department have discussed the use of the former Royal Air Force Turnhouse site with BAA Lynton; and if he will place in the Library the minutes of the meetings.

Beverley Hughes: There has been dialogue over recent months between representatives of the Home Office officials and BAA Lynton.
	The details of this dialogue cannot be placed in the Library for reasons of commercial confidentiality.

Dublin Convention

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the EU Committee on the system for comparison of fingerprints for the effective application of the Dublin Convention (Eurodac) is next due to meet; whether representatives of the Scottish Executive (a) have been and (b) are members of it; and if he will make a statement.

Beverley Hughes: The EURODAC system itself is not yet operational. There are no immediate plans for the Committee established by Article 23 of the EURODAC Regulation to meet. Immigration and asylum matters are reserved subjects and consequently officials from the Scottish Executive are not members of the Committee. A Home Office official and an official from the United Kingdom (UK) Permanent Representation in Brussels will represent the UK at meetings of the Committee.

Paedophilia

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  how many people were (a) reported for and (b) convicted of offences related to paedophilia and how many of the latter were repeat offenders in Wales in the last five years;
	(2)  how many of those convicted of offences relating to paedophilia (a) lived, (b) worked and (c) were reported within 10 kilometres of a children's home in Wales in the last five years;
	(3)  how many people were (a) reported and (b) convicted for offences related to paedophilia per person aged 18 and under in Wales, in the last five years.

Hilary Benn: There is no definitive list of offences relating to paedophilia. The information collected centrally relates to a range of offences (including those involving direct contact with the victims and others that do not) against victims of a variety of ages, some of which span the legal age of consent to sexual activity.
	The government have announced that they will publish in the autumn its plans for comprehensive reform of the framework of sexual offences.

Marsham Street

Jonathan Sayeed: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which consultant is advising on his new Department's building in Marsham Street; and for what reasons this consultant is tendering for hydrofluorocarbon air-conditioning.

Beverley Hughes: As announced on 26 March, the contract for the Home Office's new Head Quarters building in Marsham Street has been signed with Annes Gate Property (AGP). Battle McCarthy is the consultant in the design team retained by AGP's design and build sub-contractor, Bouygues UK Ltd. The Home Office also retains an environmental specialist through its external surveyor monitoring the design development by AGP and their sub-contractor.
	For AGP, Bouygues UK Ltd is tendering for the hydroflourocarbon (R407C) refrigerant in the air conditioning as this substance achieves environmental friendliness and gives best value for money. The substance has a positive rating in the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM), which is the recognised evaluation process for measuring the environmental level of a building and it also meets all UK quality standards.

Refugees

Ann McKechin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what schemes his Department (a) has in place and (b) plans to put in place to assist refugees living in Scotland find employment.

Beverley Hughes: The National Refugee Integration Forum, which consists of representatives from Government departments, local authorities, the voluntary sector and refugees themselves, oversees the development of the overall integration strategy for refugees across the United Kingdom (UK). Access to employment is a key to enabling refugees to achieve their full potential in the UK. The Forum has established an Employment sub group to look specifically at the barriers to work that refugees face, and how these barriers can be removed.
	Amongst measures examined so far are the provision of appropriate English language training, provision of information about the UK labour market, and raising awareness amongst potential employers of the skills and qualifications that refugees bring with them to the UK.
	The National Forum has also assisted in the establishment of a Scottish Refugee Integration Forum, chaired by the Minister of Social Justice Margaret Curran MSP, to look at the issues facing those refugees who have settled in Scotland. Mirroring the National Forum, the Scottish Forum has also established a satellite group to consider the barriers to employment from a Scottish perspective.
	The Home Office also funds a number of refugee integration initiatives in Scotland through the Refugee Integration Challenge Fund and the European Refugee Fund. These are:
	Glasgow ESOL Forum (£26,000): A project to train ESOL tutors for refugees, rent premises and obtain teaching materials
	YMCA, Glasgow (£42,779): The project aims to assist asylum seekers whose applications for asylum or exceptional leave to remain are granted, by assisting with access to accommodation, providing training in English and in the life skills cultural and other aspects of life in Scotland.
	Scottish Refugee Council (£50,579): To establish Refugee Community Organisations (RCO's) in Scotland that support refugees integration into the surrounding community and assisting refugees to set up their own RCOs.

Passports

Ian Davidson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many British passports have been issued to individuals previously citizens of the overseas territories broken down by (a) territory, (b) age and (c) sex; and what assessment he has made of the efficiency of the operation.

Beverley Hughes: There is no single system for issuing passports to people who are British citizens under the British Overseas Territories Act 2002. Those who are resident in the United Kingdom may apply to the usual Passport Office for their region. Those resident in territories where British passport issuing facilities are available locally or through a convenient British diplomatic post may apply in the territory. As a temporary measure until alternative arrangements are in place, applications in other territories are being sent to the Liverpool passport office for processing. Figures are available only for those applications dealt with at Liverpool and are given in the table. Applications from UK residents are being dealt with at the same speed as other first applications: 2 weeks for the standard service, 1 week for the fast track service at United Kingdom Passport Service counters. The total turnaround times for applications from overseas territories dealt with in Liverpool depend mainly on transport links between the territory and the UK; the Liverpool office handles the application within the 2 week standard service.
	
		Applications dealt with 21 May to 18 July 2002
		
			 Child Adult  
			  Male Female Male Female 
		
		
			 Anguilla 82 83 40 43 
			 Ascension 20 11 5 1 
			 British Virgin Islands 109 102 38 30 
			 Cayman Islands 99 77 19 5 
			 Gibraltar* 104 105 22 13 
			 Montserrat 43 28 7 12 
			 St Helena 25 30 5 7 
		
	
	* Includes 104 adults and 26 children registered as British citizens under Section 5 of the British Nationality Act 1981

Passports

Nick Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what information will be held on the proposed passport card.

Beverley Hughes: The proposed passport card will hold the same personal data as currently contained in the United Kingdom passport. In addition biometric information is being considered for inclusion in both passport cards and passport books.

Passports

Nick Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what his estimate is of the number of fraudulent UK passports in existence and circulation.

Beverley Hughes: It is not possible to say how many fraudulently issued United Kingdom passports there are in existence or in circulation. The UK Passport Service does not routinely collate comprehensive information on the number of passports which have been identified as having been issued on the basis of fraudulent applications. Also, the Passport Service is not always informed when such passports come to light.
	The Passport Service does measure detected fraud and has recently identified some 800 fraudulently obtained passports through its automated check on the death records of under 18 year olds in England and Wales. Details of these passports have been circulated to law enforcement agencies in the UK and to authorities abroad.

Passports

Nick Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what examples of passport cards in other jurisdictions he studied in his proposals for a passport card.

Beverley Hughes: The concept of a card form of a passport has only recently been embodied into published International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) specifications (1999). Officials from the United Kingdom Passport Service have exchanged ideas about the development of passport cards with Canadian and Australian colleagues. Information has also been exchanged with Swedish, United States and New Zealand passport officials

Passports

Nick Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what discussions he has had with the US Government regarding the acceptability of his proposed passport card as a replacement for the traditional passport for UK citizens entering the US.

Beverley Hughes: The UK Passport Service's plans for a passport card are based on it not being a replacement for the passport book. Individuals will be issued with both documents.
	The card is planned primarily as a convenient travel document for United Kingdom citizens to use in Europe. In addition an extension of its use, via bilateral agreements, to countries not requiring UK citizens to hold a visa will be pursued. Discussions between officials from the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand have indicated a secure passport card would be acceptable, but no formal approach has been made to gain acceptance from these countries.
	The US is currently revising its border control strategy, including visa waiver arrangements. This may impact on the acceptability of a UK passport card in the US.

Passports

Nick Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the (a) European Union and (b) international standards with which a passport card must comply.

Beverley Hughes: Standards for machine readable travel documents have been established by International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). This United Nations body publishes specifications in Document 9303 in three separate parts. Part 1 covers passports, Part 2 visas and Part 3 cards.
	These standards have wide international acceptance. Part 1 of the document includes card forms of the passport within its scope but refers to Part 3 for the technical specifications that should apply. A United Kingdom passport card will comply with the specifications in Part 3.
	European Union member states comply with Doc 9303 for the design of their travel documents. In addition, member states of the European Union have agreed on a joint resolution on minimum security standards for travel documents. The UK passport card will comply with this resolution.

Passports

Jimmy Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if a person may countersign a passport application if they themselves do not possess a passport.

Beverley Hughes: No. A requirement for countersignatories to be British or Irish passport holders was introduced at the same time as the definition of acceptable countersignatories was broadened. Applications may now be countersigned by any professional persons or persons of standing in the community, but they must hold a current United Kingdom or Irish passport. This gives applicants the widest choice of countersignatories at the same time as improving security by allowing a 100 per cent. check on the identity of countersignatories from the UK Passport Service records or by arrangement with the Irish authorities.

Volunteers

John Greenway: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether volunteers are entitled to receive criminal records checks free of charge; and what assessment has been made of the charges made by umbrella bodies to volunteers wishing to receive checks through the Criminal Records Bureau.

Hilary Benn: holding answer 23 July 2002
	It was announced in February last year that Standard and Enhanced Disclosures would be issued free by the Criminal Records Bureau in the case of volunteers.
	Estimates by a number of organisations as to the level of costs charged by countersigning bodies—whether by an organisation—acting on its own behalf or an umbrella body countersigning applications at the request of others—have varied very considerably, depending upon a range of factors including the size of the organisation and the number of applications to be processed. In guidance for umbrella bodies, the Bureau has urged that any charges made for providing the service should be kept to a minimum. Organisations wishing to use an umbrella body are advised to enquire about, and to compare, any such charges.
	We have been determined that all those wishing to access the Criminal Records Bureau's (CRB's) service should have ready means of access. Up to 16 July, a total of 917 umbrella bodies had been registered by the Criminal Records Bureau. Of those, 442 have agreed to act as "open" umbrella bodies to provide this service for bodies outside their own circle or sector), of which 65 are voluntary bodies. Voluntary organisations needing to find an umbrella body should access the CRB's website www.disclosure.gov.uk which has an umbrella body search facility, or contact the CRB direct on 0870 90 90 811. Organisations are continuing to apply for registration, and the number of umbrella bodies will increase. We are actively exploring means of developing the network further.

Charities

William Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assistance and advice his Department provides to charities having difficulty obtaining public liability insurance after 11 September 2001.

Beverley Hughes: holding answer 24 July 2002
	I am aware of the problems being experienced by charities, especially those in the voluntary and community sector, as a result of the volatility in the insurance market since 11 September 2001. It is deeply worrying that small groups of volunteers who are making a real contribution to their communities are being faced with such difficulty.
	The Active Community Unit in the Home Office is advising charities in the voluntary and community sector to contact, in the first instance, two organisations who have been successful in negotiating public liability insurance for their membership. Additionally, the Active Community Unit is holding discussions with interested parties from the voluntary and community sector, other interested government departments, the Charity Finance Directors' Group and the insurance industry, to see what more can be done. An exploratory meeting to focus on this issue took place on Wednesday 24 July.

Anti-Semitism

Andrew Love: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what action is being taken to (a) monitor and (b) arrest and convict those involved in (i) distributing anti-semitic material and (ii) anti-semitic activity against people and property; and if he will make a statement.

Beverley Hughes: The police and Jewish bodies continue to work closely to safeguard Jewish people and property. The Government are in close touch with the Community Security Trust of the British Board of Deputies, which provides up-to-date details of anti-Semitic activity in the United Kingdom, such as assaults and criminal damage. Home Office officials have also met leading representatives of the Union of Jewish Students (UJS) in order to discuss the recent increase in anti-Semitic activity within University campuses.
	The Government are fully committed to tackling anti-Semitism and racism generally wherever it occurs. Under Part III of the Public Order Act 1986 it is an offence to use threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour with intent or likelihood to stir up racial hatred. The offence covers inflammatory comments made in public or in the media as well as the distribution of printed material. The Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 increased the maximum penalty for incitement to racial hatred from two to seven years' imprisonment. Additionally, the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 introduced nine new racially aggravated offences, including assault and criminal damage, for which the maximum penalties available to the courts are substantially increased if it can be shown that there was evidence of racial hostility to the offences.
	The investigation of possible breaches of these laws is an operational matter for the police and the Crown Prosecution Service. We would therefore urge anyone who believes these laws to have been breached to report the matter to the police.

Charitable Status

Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list those organisations which have had charitable status withdrawn since June 2001, stating the reasons in each case.

Beverley Hughes: holding answer 24 July 2002
	This is a matter for the Charity Commission, as the Government Department that registers charities in England and Wales. The Chief Charity Commissioner will write to the hon. Member concerning charities in England and Wales and a copy of his reply will be placed in the Library.

Police Numbers (London)

Jimmy Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on recent levels of crime in areas where police have been taken away to deal with security in London.

John Denham: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave him on 22 July 2002, Official Report, column 830W.

Civil Servants

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will set out for each Civil Service grade within his Department the (a) total number of staff employed and (b) the number aged (i) 16 to 25, (ii) 26 to 35, (iii) 36 to 45, (iv) 46 to 60 and (v) over the age of 60 years.

Beverley Hughes: holding answer 6 February 2002
	I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 18 April 2002, Official Report, column 1160W.

Secondments

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will list the names of staff who have been seconded to his department from the private sector since May 1997, indicating (a) the names of the organisation from which each has come, (b) their responsibilities and Civil Service grades within his Department, (c) the organisation responsible for paying their salary and (d) the start and dates of their secondment. (35835)
	 Question number missing in Hansard, possibly truncated question.

Hilary Benn: holding answer 12 February 2002
	Secondments are part of the Interchange initiative, which promotes the exchange of people and good practice between the Civil Service and other organisations. All sectors of the economy are involved: Voluntary, Education, Health, Public and Private. Interchange provides opportunities for civil servants to learn new skills, widen their experience and develop ideas. It also brings in skills and experiences from other sectors.
	Available information from the periods in question is listed in the table. Information for 2001–02 is not yet available.
	
		May 1998 To April 1999
		
			 Number of Staff Name of Organisation Home Office Dept Grade and Responsibilities Duration 
		
		
			 1 Woolwich Building Society Home Office 
			 (London) Senior Civil 
			 Service 1/7/98 to 
			 1/1/99 
			 1 Natwest Home Office 
			 (London) Senior Civil 
			 Service 18/1/99 to 
			 3/12/99 
			 1 Systems Union Ltd Home Office 
			 (London) Senior Civil 
			 Service Not available 
		
	
	
		May 1999 To April 2000
		
			 Number of Staff Name of Organisation Home Office Dept Grade and Responsibilities Duration 
		
		
			 1 PWC Home Office 
			 (London) Grade 7 4/8/99 to 
			 3/8/2000 
			 1 Capita Ras Home Office 
			 (London) Senior Civil Service 
			  1/10/99 to 
			 30/9/01 
			 1 British Telecom Home Office 
			 (London) Grade 6 18/10/99 to 
			 30/9/01 
		
	
	
		May 2000 To April 2001
		
			 Number of Staff Name of Organisation Home Office Dept Grade and Responsibilities Duration 
		
		
			 1 John Lewis Immigration 
			 & Nationality Grade 7, 
			 Team Leader 
			 for Asylum 
			 Support Unit Not available 
			 1 Lloyds TSB Immigration 
			 & Nationality Not available 1 year 
			 2 Not available Home Office (London) Not available Not available

Secondments

Jenny Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many members of staff were employed by his Department on secondment from non-govenmental organisations in (a) 1999, (b) 2000 and (c) 2001.

Hilary Benn: Secondments are part of the Interchange initiative, which promotes the exchange of people and good practice between the Civil Service and other organisations. All sectors of the economy are involved: Voluntary, Education, Health, Public and Private. Interchange provides opportunities for civil servants to learn new skills, widen their experience and develop ideas. It also brings in skills and experiences from other sectors.
	For the periods in question, the numbers of staff seconded from non-governmental organisations to the home department are set out in the table. Figures for 2001–02 are not yet available.
	
		
			 Non-Governmental Organisations 1999–2000 2000–01 
		
		
			 Number of staff 30 21

Secondments

Jenny Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many members of staff were employed by his Department on secondment from the private sector in (a) 1999, (b) 2000 and (c) 2001.

Hilary Benn: Secondments are part of the Interchange initiative, which promotes the exchange of people and good practice between the Civil Service and other organisations. All sectors of the economy are involved: Voluntary, Education, Health, Public and Private. Interchange provides opportunities for civil servants to learn new skills, widen their experience and develop ideas. It also brings in skills and experiences from other sectors.
	During 1999–2000, three private sector staff are recorded as having been seconded to the home department, with a further four in 2000–01. Figures for 2001–02 are not yet available.

Union Duties

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he intends to answer the question of 13 February from the hon. Member for Buckingham regarding staff involvement in union duties.

Beverley Hughes: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to him on 15 April 2002, Official Report, column 757W.

Regional Organisation

Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which of the agencies and NDPBs sponsored by his Department have a regional organisation; and if he will list the counties and unitary authorities in each region in (a) 1997 and (b) 2002.

Beverley Hughes: The majority of Home Office sponsored Executive Non-Departmental Public Bodies (NDPB's) do not have regional organisations. Some do have offices outside London, but these are not for regional organisational purposes.
	The three Executive NDPB's with regional organisation are:
	— The Commission for Racial Equality (CRE);
	— The National Crime Squad (NCS); and
	— The National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS).
	Details of their regional organisations are set out in the table.
	Both Home Offices Agencies have regional organisations.
	Since April 2000, the Prison Service has operated an area manager structure that is based on the Government regions. Two regions are divided between two area managers: the South East (one for Thames Valley, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight and one for Kent, Surrey and Sussex) and East Midlands North (Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire, Derby and Nottingham) and South (Leicestershire and Northamptonshire, Leicester and Rutland). Previously area managers had been based in London.
	The United Kingdom Passport Service (UKPS) had five regional catchment areas in 1997, and has six in 2002, not including London, which is now a drop in centre. Details of the organisational structure are in the table.
	
		Regional Organisational Structures -- A. Home Office Non Departmental Public Bodies
		
			 Commission for Racial Equality (2002) 
		
		
			 London and the South (London) 33 London Boroughs Bucks, Oxfordshire, Surrey, Sussex, Hampshire, Berks., Kent, Bedfordshire, Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, Somerset, Dorset, Devon, Cornwall, Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, Essex and Hertfordshire. 
			 Midlands (Birmingham) Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, plus Cambridgeshire (Eastern Region), Shropshire. Northamptonshire. Staffordshire, West Midlands County, Warwickshire, Worcestershire and Herefordshire. 
			 North of England (Manchester and Leeds) Cumbria, Lancashire, Cheshire, Manchester, West Yorkshire and Merseyside. 
			  Inclusive Boundaries—Northumberland, Durham, North Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, North Lincolnshire, North East Lincolnshire and East Riding. 
			 Scotland (Edinburgh) Scotland 
			 Wales (Cardiff) Wales 
		
	
	Details of the CRE's 1997 organisation structure is not available, although it is believed to have been similar to the 2002 structure.
	
		
			 National Crime Squad (Only became an NDPB in April 2002) 
			 Northern Eastern Western 
		
		
			 Cheshire Bedfordshire Avon and Somerset 
			 Cleveland Cambridgeshire Derbyshire 
			 Cumbria City of London Devon and Cornwall 
			 Durham Essex Dorset 
			 Greater Manchester Hampshire Dyfed-Powys 
			 Humberside Hertfordshire Gloucestershire 
			 Lancashire Kent Gwent 
			 Merseyside Metropolitan Police Leicestershire 
			 Northumbria Norfolk Lincolnshire 
			 North Yorkshire Suffolk Northamptonshire 
			 South Yorkshire Surrey North Wales 
			 West Yorkshire Sussex Nottinghamshire 
			  Thames Valley South Wales 
			   Staffordshire 
			   Warwickshire 
			   West Mercia 
			   West Midlands 
			   Wiltshire 
		
	
	
		
			 National Criminal Intelligence Service (Only became an NDPB in April 2002) 
		
		
			 South East Area Office (London) Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, Greater London, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Hampshire, Surrey, West Sussex, East Sussex, Kent and Isle of Wight. 
			 South West Regional Office 
			 (Bristol) Gloucestershire, Avon, Wiltshire, Somerset, Dorset, Devon, Cornwall, Gwent, South Glamorgan, Mid Glamorgan, West Glamorgan and Dyfed, Powys. 
			 Midlands Regional Office 
			 (Birmingham) 
			  Northamptonshire, Warwickshire, Hereford and Worcester, West Midlands, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Leicestershire, (Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire) 1 . 
			 North East Regional Office 
			 (Wakefield) South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, Humberside, North Yorkshire, Durham, Cleveland, Tyne and Wear, Northumberland, (Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire) 1 . 
			 North West Regional Office 
			 (Manchester) Cheshire, Merseyside, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Cumbria, Isle of Man, Anglesey, Gwynedd and Clwyd. 
			 Scotland Office (Paisley) Has responsibility for the whole of Scotland. 
			 Northern Ireland (Belfast) Has responsibility for Northern Ireland. 
		
	
	1 Since 1 April 2002, the Midlands Regional Office has extended its responsibilities to include Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Lincolnshire police forces as well as the regional National Crime Squad (NCS) and Her Majesty's Custom's and Excise (HMC&E) offices. These areas of responsibility were previously held by North East Regional Office.
	
		B. Home Office Agencies
		
			 United Kingdom Passport Service (UKPS) (1997) 
		
		
			 Glasgow All of Scotland, plus Inner and Outer London. 
			 Belfast Northern Ireland. 
			 Newport All of Wales, plus Bracknell Forest, Brighton and Hove, Isle of Wight, Portsmouth, Reading, Slough, Southampton, West Berkshire, Windsor and Maidenhead, Wokingham, Bath and North East Somerset, Bournemouth, Bristol, North Somerset, Plymouth, Poole, S. Gloucestershire, Swindon, Torbay (all unitary authorities) and East Sussex, Hampshire, Oxfordshire, Surrey, West Sussex, Cornwall and Isles of Scilly, Devon, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Somerset, Shropshire and Wiltshire (Counties). 
			 Peterborough East Riding of Yorkshire, North East Lincolnshire, North Lincolnshire, Leicester, Nottingham, Rutland, Hereford, Stoke-on-Trent, Luton, Peterborough, Southend on Sea, Medway, Milton Keynes (unitary authorities) and Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire, Warwickshire, West Midlands, Worcestershire, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Buckinghamshire and Kent. 
			 Liverpool Darlington, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland, Stockton-on-Tees, Blackburn with Darwen, Halton, Warrington, Kingston upon Hull, Derby, Telford and Wrekin (unitary authorities) and Durham, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Merseyside, North Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, Derbyshire, and Staffordshire (counties). 
			 UKPS (2002)  
			 Belfast All of Northern Ireland plus Brighton and Hove UA and East Sussex. 
			 Durham Darlington UA, Hartlepool UA, Middlesbrough UA, Redcar and Cleveland UA, Stockton-on-Tees UA, East Riding of Yorkshire UA, Kingston upon Hull UA, North East Lincolnshire UA, North Lincolnshire UA, York UA, Leicester UA, Luton UA, Milton Keynes UA, Nottingham UA, Rutland UA, North Tyneside UA, South Tyneside UA, Sunderland UA, Gateshead UA, Newcastle-upon-Tyne UA, Leeds UA, Bradford UA, Calderdale UA, Kirklees UA, Wakefield UA, Barnsley UA, Sheffield UA, Rotherham UA, Doncaster UA, Coventry UA, Solihull UA, Birmingham UA, Sandwell UA, Dudley UA, Walsall UA, Wolverhampton UA, Bedfordshire, Cumbria, Northumberland, North Yorkshire, Northamptonshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, Durham and Warwickshire. 
			 Glasgow All of Scotland, plus Medway UA and Kent. 
			 Liverpool Blackburn with Darwen UA, Wirral UA, Halton UA, Liverpool UA, Knowsley UA, Sefton UA, St Helens UA, Telford and Wrekin UA, Warrington UA, Wigan UA, Salford UA, Bolton UA, Trafford UA, Bury UA, Manchester UA, Stockport UA, Tameside UA, Oldham UA, Rochdale UA, Stoke UA, Derby UA, County of Hereford UA, Cheshire, Derbyshire, Lancashire, Shropshire, Staffordshire and Worcestershire. 
			 Peterborough Peterborough UA, Southend-on-Sea UA, Thurrock UA, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Surrey, West Sussex, and Greater London. 
			 Newport All of Wales, Bracknell Forest UA, Isle of Wight UA, Portsmouth UA, Reading UA, Slough UA, Southampton UA, West Berkshire UA, Windsor and Maidenhead UA, Workingham UA, Bath and North East Somerset UA, Bournemouth UA, City of Bristol UA, North Somerset UA, Plymouth UA, Poole UA, South Gloucestershire UA, Swindon UA, Torbay UA, Buckinghamshire, Cornwall and Isles of Scilly, Devon, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Oxfordshire, Somerset, and Wiltshire.

Asylum Accommodation

Linda Perham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if asylum-seeking families with dependent children may have their support removed if they (a) refuse the offer of a place in an accommodation centre, (b) voluntarily cease to reside there and (c) breach conditions set on their residence.

Beverley Hughes: I will write to my hon. Friend.

Entertainment Costs

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the cost was of the Department's 2001 staff Christmas Party; and how many people attended.

Beverley Hughes: Public funds are not normally used to pay for entertainment of civil servants in the Department. Staff Christmas parties in 2001 funded by staff themselves have not been included in this answer. We have identified a small number of events, held in December 2001, to recognise the contribution of staff and extend hospitality to non-civil servants who contributed to the delivery of the Department's objectives during the course of the year, which were part funded by the Department and its operational agencies. The total cost of these was £7,645 attended by 1163 people. We have not trawled the 136 prisons or all Immigration and Nationality Directorate units and to do so could only be done at a disproportionate cost.

Court Visits

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many courts he has visited since 7 June 2001.

John Denham: My right hon. Friend the Home Secretary has not visited any courts during this period. However, my right hon. Friend the Member for Manchester, Withington (Mr. Bradley)—then Minister with responsibility for criminal justice policy—visited twelve criminal courts during the corresponding period, and I visited a Magistrates Court.

Recycling

Sue Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of (a) paper and (b) other goods purchased by his Department was recycled paper in each year since 1997; what the annual total cost of these purchases was; what plans there are to increase these proportions; and if he will make a statement.

Beverley Hughes: (a) The proportion of recycled paper purchased by the Department from the framework paper contract for 2000–01 and 2001–02 is set out in the table. Figures for earlier years are not readily available and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
	
		
			 Year Number of reams of recycled paper Cost of Recycled paper Total number of reams purchased Total cost of paper purchased Percentage of recycled paper purchased 
		
		
			 2000–01 12,830 £28,536 556,084 £889,789 2 
			 2001–02 27,230 £85,820 797,212 £1,451,900 3 
		
	
	The Home Office has recently made the use of recycled paper for photocopiers, printers and facsimile equipment compulsory. This mandate applies to the core Home Office and should result in around 40 per cent. of all paper purchased by the Department as a whole being recycled. This percentage may increase shortly: the Prison Service has issued guidance to their procurement staff encouraging them to use recycled paper and the United Kingdom Passport Agency and the Forensic Science Service are at present considering whether to make its use compulsory.
	(b) Figures are not available for the proportion of other goods purchased by the Home Office that were derived from recycled paper.

Recycling

Sue Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of waste produced in his Department was (a) recycled, (b) composted and (c) re-used, broken down into (i) paper, (ii) plastics, (iii) aluminium cans and (iv) other in each year since 1997; what plans there are to increase these proportions; and if he will make a statement.

Beverley Hughes: The information requested is not recorded centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. However, records for the Department's Central London headquarters estate show that 20 per cent. of the office waste was recycled in 2000–01 and 25 per cent. was recycled in 2001–02.
	Waste minimisation schemes are being introduced at all key sites on the Department's non-prison estate, while waste audits have been conducted at 72 sites on the prison estate and waste management units are operational at 14 prisons and developmental work is underway at a further 18 sites.
	We are considering how to increase the range and amount of waste sent for recycling.

Oral Questions

Simon Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many oral questions he has transferred to other departments in each of the last 18 months.

Beverley Hughes: The information requested is shown in the table.
	
		
			 Date of oral PQ session Number of PQs transferred 
		
		
			 2 July 2001 4 
			 19 November 2001 1 
			 4 February 2002 1 
			 11 March 2002 1 
			 TOTAL 7 
		
	
	The reason that there were four transfers in July 2001 is that this closely followed the movement of policy areas between Departments after the General Election. Questions are only transferred out of the Department when it is more appropriate for another Department to respond and when that Department has agreed to accept the question.

Violent Crime

Iain Coleman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the rate of violent crime was in each Government office region at the latest date for which figures are available.

John Denham: The table gives figures for rates of violent crime from the British Crime Survey (BCS), for the English regions and Wales based on BCS interviews in the financial year 2001–02. The BCS figures for violence per 10,000 adults relate to violence (wounding, common assault, robbery and snatch theft) experienced by the members of the public sampled in the survey.
	The BCS violence estimate for the number of violent incidents increased by two per cent. compared to 2000, but this is not statistically significant. Comparison of results reported to the BCS in 2001–02 with those for earlier years show a 17 per cent. decline in BCS violence since 1999, a 22 per cent. decline since 1997 and a 33 per cent. decline since 1995, all of these decreases being statistically significant.
	The following figures have been extracted from Table 6.06 of the Home Office Statistical Bulletin "Crime in England and Wales 2001–02", which is available in the library. A fuller explanation of the differences between the collection of recorded crime and BCS figures is given in Chapter 2 of this publication.
	The BCS and police recorded crime figures for violence are not directly comparable. Numbers of police recorded violent crimes per 10,000 population relate to all the recordable offences in the violence against the person, sexual offences and robbery offence groups. There is also a less than complete correlation between the recorded crime and BCS figures owing to the different methods of collection, methodology and coverage (for example, the BCS only relates to victims over the age of 16, and residents), with different rates of reporting of crimes to the police also being a factor.
	
		
			 Violent crime recorded by the British Crime Survey by region 2001–02—Rates per 10,000 adults 1 . 
			 Region Total BCS violence per 10,000 adults 1 . 
		
		
			   
			 North East Region 386 
			 North West Region 736 
			 Yorkshire and the Humber Region 866 
			 East Midlands Region 621 
			 West Midlands Region 579 
			 East of England Region 589 
			 London Region 800 
			 South East Region 895 
			 South West Region 493 
			 Wales 618 
			   
			 England and Wales 679 
			 England and Wales 
			 (excluding London Region) 657 
		
	
	1 . BCS data relates to those of age 16 of over, i.e. about 80 per cent. of the population. (Recorded violent crime figures relate to the whole population).

Capital Modernisation Grant

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will provide a breakdown by spending heading of the capital modernisation grant for 2001–02.

Beverley Hughes: holding answer 11 July 2002
	The department spent the following amounts on approved capital modernisation projects in 2001–02:
	
		
			 Project: Expenditure £'000 
		
		
			 Round 1  
			 Crime Reduction Closed Circuit Television 69,127 
			 Airwave 28,300 
			 IT Integration in criminal justice system (CJS) with Lord Chancellor's Department and the Crown Proscution Service: Oasys and P.S. Lids System 476 
			 DNA database (with Round 2) 17,000 
			 Active Communities 7,604 
			 Libra 98 
			 VISOR—Sex and Violent Offenders Database 333 
			 Round 2  
			 Prison Pressures Nil * 
			 National Strategy on Police Information System 12,188 
			 Government Technical Assistance Centre 4,840 
			 Video recording police interviews 1,706 
			 Video-links: Modernising the Court Process 2,422 
			 Post-release support hostel for prisoners after drug treatment Nil * 
			 Electronic chipping of goods 1,539 
			 Visor—Sex and Violent Offenders Database 333 
			 Round 3  
			 Firearms Forensic Database Nil * 
			 Joined Up Justice—Integrated CJS for Warwickshire 2,700 
			 Security for small retailers 2,354 
			 Detecting Concealed People 935 
			 Electronic chipping of goods 700 
		
	
	* Deferred to 2002–03.

Rape

Edward Leigh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans there are to lower the statutory age at which a person can be prosecuted for rape.

Hilary Benn: None. The statutory age at which a person can be prosecuted for rape is 10 (which is also the age of criminal responsibility). The age was lowered from 14 to 10 by the Sexual Offences Act 1993.

Crime Statistics

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the Government's methodology for recording crime statistics; and when this methodology was last changed.

John Denham: Police practice on recorded crime statistics has for many years been governed by Home Office Counting Rules. These rules have covered the counting and classification of crimes for statistical purposes, although the policy on whether to record crimes that have been reported has in the past varied from force to force.
	The Home Office Counting Rules for Recorded Crime were last revised with effect from 1 April 2002, principally to take account of the introduction of the National Crime Recording Standard which was produced by the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) in consultation with the Home Office. The Standard aims to promote greater consistency between police forces in recording reports of crime and to take a more victim orientated approach to crime recording.
	The latest change to the Rules is anticipated to impact mainly on the violence against the person, theft and handling and criminal damage offence groups, although all offence groups are potentially affected and the impact of the changes will vary between the different police forces.
	The recorded crime statistics cover all indictable and triable-either-way offences, together with a few summary offences closely related to more serious ones.
	A copy of the Home Office Counting Rules is available on the website at http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/ counting/index.html.

CCTV

Ian Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what mechanisms are used for monitoring the usefulness and effectiveness of CCTV programmes.

John Denham: Under the Crime Reduction Programme Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) Initiative, a potential of £170 million will be spent funding 683 public area CCTV schemes.
	As a condition of funding, each scheme is required to undertake an independent evaluation of its effectiveness as a tool to assist the police and reduce crime and the fear of crime. These evaluations will cover implementation, impact and cost effectiveness.
	In addition, to help ensure maximum impact and sustainability of CCTV, a £1.5 million Home Office funded national evaluation programme is being carried out by the Scarman Centre, University of Leicester, on 17 approved CCTV Initiative schemes.

Attendance Centres

Peter Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  if he will make a statement on the reform of attendance centres;
	(2)  what plans he has to change responsibility for (a) junior and (b) senior attendance centres with the youth justice system.

Hilary Benn: holding answer 22 July 2002
	The Youth Justice Board has had central responsibility for commissioning and funding junior attendance centres since April 2000. We are, in consultation with the Board, reviewing existing arrangements.

Overstayers

Jon Owen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his answer of 15 July 2002, Official Report, column 88W, on overstayers, what steps he plans to take to increase the rate of consideration and decision on applications under the Regularisation Scheme for Overstayers to meet his target date of April 2003.

Beverley Hughes: holding answer 22 July 2002
	During the current financial year there has been a significant increase in the number of specialist caseworkers considering the applications under The Regularisation Scheme For Overstayers. The new staff are initially dealing with grants (which are easier to process) until they receive further training in September. It is expected that the output of the established staff will continue to increase with experience, and that the new staff will quickly come up to speed. Processes have been streamlined, best practice shared, and a pragmatic and sympathetic approach is being taken to any compassionate factors encountered. Processes and resources will be kept under constant review, and caseworkers are encouraged to make any suggestions for improvements in working practices that might further speed up decision making.

Parliamentary Answers

Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  for how long he retains documents referred to in Parliamentary Answers on his Department's website;
	(2)  whether it is his policy to ensure that documents referred to in parliamentary answers are available via his Department's website.

Beverley Hughes: The Home Office aims to be as helpful as possible in responding to hon. Members' Questions. Where it is helpful to refer hon. Members to other documents as part of the substantive reply, this may be done by making hard copies of documents available in the Libraries of the House, or by reference to material available on the Home Office website. The Home Office adheres to the requirements for the types of documents which should be published on our website as directed by the Office of the e-Envoy. A copy of these is available at http://www.e-envoy.gov.uk/webguidelines.htm.
	The Home Office ensures that the content of the site as a whole is up to date and current.
	There are no set time limits for documents to remain on the Home Office website. Where it is agreed with particular policy units that documents are no longer current but still of significant interest, the relevant material is archived and available to website users on www.homeoffice.gov.uk/archive.htm. Consultation documents are archived on the site after their closing date under www.homeoffice.gov.uk/atoz/cpsummaries.htm.

Sangatte Refugee Centre

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if the arrangements made with the French Interior Minister for the closure of the Sangatte Red Cross refugee centre include, and if future arrangements made will include, (a) a right of appeal of immigration decisions taken in respect of the residents of the centre and (b) the provision of independent legal advice to the residents of the centre; and if he will make a statement.

Beverley Hughes: holding answer 23 July 2002
	My right hon. Friend the Home Secretary's discussions with his French counterpart have concentrated on agreeing a closure timetable for the Sangatte Centre and the range of measures to tackle illegal immigration which will allow the centre to close.

Travel Documents

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  what measures the UK Government are taking to encourage the recognition of (a) the Convention travel document issued to refugees and (b) certificates of identity issued by the UK as official travel documents by countries that do not recognise them as such; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  which countries recognise (a) the Convention travel document issued to refugees and (b) certificates of identity issued by the UK as official travel documents, and if he will make a statement;
	(3)  what measures he is taking to facilitate the travel to countries who do not recognise the Convention travel document issued to refugees and certificates of identity issued by the UK as official travel documents by UK residents who hold such documents; and if he will make a statement;

Beverley Hughes: holding answer 23 July 2002
	All countries which are signatories of the 1951 United Nations Convention relating to the Status of Refugees recognise the travel document issued to refugees under Article 28 of the Convention. We are not aware of any particular difficulties encountered by refugees resident in the United Kingdom when using this travel document.
	The Certificate of Identity (CID) is a travel document issued to foreign nationals who are resident here but unable to obtain a passport from their national authorities. It is issued on a discretionary basis, not under an international convention. Non-recognition of the document by a number of European Union Member States who are members of the Schengen Group, notably France, Germany, Greece and Spain, means that CID holders who want to travel abroad for short visits, or other temporary purposes, are often unable to do so. It is a matter for individual countries whether the CID is recognised as a travel document.
	The issue has been discussed regularly at meetings of consular representatives from the London Embassies of the Schengen Member States. At these meetings, and also in separate informal discussions, Home Office officials have given extensive assurances about matters relating to the CID, including particularly the re-admissibility to the UK of people who use the document to travel abroad.
	Efforts to solve the problem and persuade objecting countries to recognise the CID are continuing.

Police (Ethnic Minority Gender Targets)

Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent assessment he has made of the advantages and disadvantages of introducing ethnic minority gender targets for the police.

John Denham: There are no current plans to introduce such targets. The Government has published overall targets for the recruitment, retention and progression of minority ethnic police officers in "Dismantling Barriers". Forces have until 2009 to meet those targets. It remains a priority for the Government that the police service should represent the communities it serves.

Crime (Buckingham)

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of crime prevention partnerships in reducing crime in the Buckingham constituency.

John Denham: The Crime and Disorder Act 1998 requires the responsible authorities—police and local authorities—for each area jointly to conduct an audit of all crime and disorder and in the light of that and following local consultation, to formulate and implement a crime and disorder reduction strategy. In so doing, they must involve other local agencies, and the local community. The Act also requires the responsible authorities to keep the strategy under review to monitor its effectiveness.
	The Buckingham constituency falls within the Aylesbury Vale Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership (CDRP). The Partnership has conducted an audit of crime and disorder in their area to inform their strategy for crime and disorder reduction for Aylesbury Vale for the period April 2002 to April 2005. This strategy was published in April 2002.
	Latest recorded crime figures published in July 2002 for the 12-month period to March 2002 are set out in the table, along with comparisons for the previous two years. British Crime Survey (BCS) figures are not available at CDRP or Basic Command Unit (BCU) level, but figures for 2001–02 do show significant national reductions in the key categories of crime over the two years since the last BCS with a large enough sample size to demonstrate trends (1999): burglary fell by 23 per cent.; vehicle thefts fell by 14 per cent.; common assaults fell by 28 per cent.; vandalism fell by six per cent.; and overall crime fell by 14 per cent. The BCS also demonstrates that the chances of being a victim of crime remain stable at their lowest level for nearly twenty years. In the South East region, the BCS shows that burglary and vehicle crime levels are well below the national average, although the same cannot be said for violent crime.
	
		Aylesbury Vale Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership
		
			Number of offences 
			 Recorded Crime 2001–02 2000–01 1999–2000 
		
		
			 Violence against the person 970 1,016 842 
			 Sexual offences 57 68 70 
			 Robbery 147 133 58 
			 Burglary dwelling 779 533 622 
			 Theft of motor vehicle 523 540 604 
			 Theft from a motor vehicle 1,925 2,076 2,054

Domestic Violence

Fiona Mactaggart: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will establish a process to ensure that (a) criminal justice agencies, (b) social services departments and (c) others can learn the lessons from those cases where a victim of domestic violence has subsequently been murdered by her abuser.

John Denham: There are a number of processes already in place to ensure all relevant agencies learn from cases where domestic violence culminates in murder, and measures are currently underway to try and minimise the likelihood of such a tragic event.
	In the event of a victim of domestic violence being murdered by her abuser, where the local police had prior contact or knowledge of the abuse, an internal police review should routinely be undertaken to consider the force's processes and identify failings. Such a review will report to the Chief Officer and will contain recommendations as to what processes are required to ensure that such a crime is not allowed to happen.
	Tragically, children can also be the victims of murder following domestic violence. Chapter 8 of the Government's "Working Together to Safeguard Children" child protection guidance details the process by which Area Child Protection Committees can institute a serious case review into cases where a child dies and abuse or neglect are known or suspected to be a factor in the death. During such reviews, the agencies involved—the Police, Social Services, Education and Health Services—prepare reports of their involvement with the case. The final report then considers whether there are any lessons to be learned from the tragedy about the ways in which agencies work together to safeguard children, and the involvement between the family and relevant professionals.
	The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) are also currently piloting domestic violence murder reviews in cases that do not necessarily involve children, based on the same model as that just set out. Such reviews involve the key agencies and ensure an appropriate forum exists to take forward any recommendations that may prevent further homicides. The Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) is awaiting the results of the MPS pilots before requiring all forces to follow similar procedures.
	Further, the Solicitor General has asked the Crown Prosecution Service to carry out multi-agency domestic violence murder reviews in a number of recent cases. These reviews, and those conducted by the MPS seek to predict the risk factors where domestic violence is occurring and improve risk management.

Domestic Violence

Virginia Bottomley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which voluntary organisations he has consulted on his policy on domestic violence; and when he last met representatives from Refuge to discuss this issue.

John Denham: The Home Office has consulted many voluntary sector organisations, and will continue to do so, on the policy of domestic violence. Officials from the Home Office and others from the Inter-Departmental Group on Domestic Violence also attend the Women's National Commission (WNC) Violence against Women Working Group which is made up of different voluntary sector organisations and projects working to combat domestic violence.
	Organisations participating include Women's Aid Federation of England (WAFE), Refuge, Standing Together, Womankind Worldwide, Greater London Domestic Violence Project (GLDVP), Camden DV/Rape Crisis, IMKAAN, SERICC, Scottish Women's Aid, Welsh Women's Aid, Victim Support, Southall Black Sisters.
	The Home Secretary has not held any meetings with Refuge to discuss domestic violence policy. My hon. Friend, Barbara Roche, Minister for Women, and also a member of the Home Office-led Ministerial Group on Domestic Violence with responsibility for education and awareness raising, has met their representatives very recently.

Police

Jimmy Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement regarding the minimum level of police cover allowed when overtime is managed down.

John Denham: On 9 May 2002, the Police Negotiating Board (PNB) agreed a package of reforms to police pay and conditions of service. The PNB is the statutory negotiating body for police pay and conditions throughout the United Kingdom.
	As part of a package of reforms, there will be a scheme to manage down overtime, with a service-wide target of a 15 per cent. reduction in the overtime bill over the three years from 2003–04. There will be local targets, taking account of force strength and effective management action already taken to manage down the overtime bill.
	Achievement of the target will not be at the expense of police officer operational availability.
	The scheme for managing down overtime will be complemented by the efficient and effective deployment of officers. The Inspectorate will monitor both the increased availability of officers for frontline duties and the managing down of overtime. Forces should be able to keep any savings achieved dependent on achieving improved visibility and availability, which will allow opportunities for increasing establishment or other initiatives designed to further improve visibility or availability.
	The new pay and conditions package agreed on 9 May will provide a modernised pay structure rewarding those at the sharp end and reducing reliance on overtime. In so doing, it both underpins the rest of the police reform programme and demonstrates the Government's commitment to invest in the police service to achieve the reforms needed and to give it the support and flexibility it requires to deliver a first-class service to the public.

Police

Jimmy Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department by how much the amount of premium pay for overtime and roster rest day working will be reduced; and what this figure is in cash terms.

John Denham: On 9 May 2002, the Police Negotiating Board (PNB) agreed a package of reforms to police pay and conditions of service. The PNB is the statutory negotiating body for police pay and conditions throughout the United Kingdom.
	Under the PNB Agreement, the rates of premium pay for overtime and rostered rest days are not being reduced.
	Under the Agreement, there will be a scheme to manage down overtime, with a service-wide target of a 15 per cent. reduction in the overtime bill over the three years from 2003–04.
	Achievement of the target will not be at the expense of the police officer operational availability. The scheme for managing down overtime will be complemented by the efficient and effective deployment of officers. The Inspectorate will monitor both the increased availability of officers for frontline duties and the managing down of overtime. Forces should be able to keep any savings achieved, dependent on achieving improved visibility and availability, which will allow opportunities for increasing establishment or other initiatives designed to further improve visibility or availability.
	The new pay and conditions package agreed on 9 May will provide a modernised pay structure rewarding those at the sharp end and reducing reliance on overtime. In so doing, it both underpins the rest of the police reform programme and demonstrates the Government's commitment to invest in the police service to achieve the reforms needed and to give it the support and flexibility it requires to deliver a first-class service to the public.

Yarl's Wood Detention Centre

Neil Gerrard: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  how many people who were detained at Yarl's Wood Detention Centre at the time of the fire on 14 February have since been removed from the UK;
	(2)  when he expects the search of Yarl's Wood site to be completed; and if evidence has been discovered during the search of human remains.

Beverley Hughes: The immigration and asylum applications and appeals of those held at Yarl's Wood removal centre on 14 February have continued to be processed in the normal way. This will include the removal or deportation of individuals who reach the point where they no longer have any lawful basis to remain in this country. The number of persons removed or deported could be established only by an examination of individual case records at disproportionate cost.
	I understand that Bedfordshire Police have completed their controlled clearance of the Yarl's Wood site and that the forensic examination of the material removed continues. No evidence of fatalities has been discovered to date.

Harmondsworth Retention Centre

Chris Mullin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) suicides and (b) attempted suicides there have been at the Immigration Holding Centre at Harmondsworth in each of the last five years.

Beverley Hughes: Central records are not maintained specifically for suicide attempts by individuals held under Immigration Act powers. Information is, however, maintained on actual self-inflicted deaths. There has been one such incident. This occurred in January 2000 at Harmondsworth.

Anti-Semitic Attacks

Andrew Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will collect statistics on the numbers of anti-semitic attacks.

Beverley Hughes: The Government has no plans to collect separate statistics on anti-Semitic attacks. These cases will be included in the total figures for racist incidents and in the statistics on racially or religiously aggravated crimes. The "Code of Practice on Reporting and Recording Racist Incidents—In response to recommendation 15 of the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry Report", lists the minimum data content for recording racist incidents by the police and other agencies. This data content includes the religion of the victim and the type of incident. The Government also receives statistics from other sources including reports of anti-Semitic incidents from the Jewish community itself.

Street Crime

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the reasons underlying the recent increase in street crime in England.

John Denham: holding answer 21 May 2002
	Crime overall has fallen in recent years and the chances of becoming a victim of crime are at their lowest for 20 years. However, by contrast street crime—i.e. robberies, snatch thefts—has shown a sharp increase, particularly over the last year.
	Tackling street crime is now a top priority for the government, which announced a programme of action on 17 March 2002.
	The government recognises that street crime has social and economic causes that cannot be tackled by the police and criminal justice agencies alone. That is why this strategy brings together all agencies, all departments, and all systems that impact on young people at risk from crime, at risk of offending, and offenders themselves and to work together to more effectively tackle street crime.
	The work aims to reverse the upward trend before looking to bring about sustainable reductions in the long-term.
	This means tackling persistent offenders, speeding up the criminal justice system and giving a better service for victims and witnesses.
	We need to tackle the roots of the problem by getting to children before they become involved in crime. This means tackling truancy, young people excluded from school should not be left to roam the streets. And from September we are providing for all permanently excluded pupils to have access to full-time education. We are also supporting the placement of up to 100 police officers in schools most affected by crime.
	We are also providing constructive activities to keep children out of trouble during school holidays with an additional £12 million for Summer Splash schemes.
	It is also part of our strategy on drugs to break the link between drugs and crime.
	Finally, we are supporting the work of the mobile phone industry to put stolen phones—a key factor in the rise in street crime—out of use by legislating to ban the re-programming of mobile phones.

Street Crime

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many mobile telephone thefts there were, broken down by police force area, in the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement.

John Denham: Centrally the Home Office does not collect or collate statistics on mobile phone thefts.

Street Crime

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the proportion of street robberies that involved mobile telephone theft in the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement.

John Denham: The Home Office does not centrally collect or collate statistics on the number of mobile phone thefts and individual police forces do not routinely collect such figures either, although some do for their own purposes. We cannot therefore estimate the proportion of street robberies that involved mobile phone theft in the last 12 months.
	However, a Home Office Report on "Mobile Phone Theft" published in January 2002 estimated that in 2000–01 mobile phones were stolen in 28 per cent. of all robberies.
	The Government has made significant progress in working with the mobile phone industry and the police to tackle mobile phone theft. From the end of September, network operators will be able to bar stolen handsets across all networks by reference to the unique International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number. To complement this measure, the Government has passed the Mobile Telephones (Re-programming) Bill which creates new criminal offences of unauthorised re-programming of the IMEI number and possessing, supplying or offering to supply equipment for that purpose. We are continuing to press the industry to put in place a long-term strategy to enhance the security of 3G devices.

Crime Statistics

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the reasons for the change in crime levels in Avon and Somerset over the past 12 months; and if he will make a statement.

John Denham: holding answer 21 May 2002
	The most recently published recorded crime figures show that in the 12 months to March 2002, overall crime levels in Avon and Somerset rose by 20 per cent. Although drug offences fell by 7 per cent. during this period, Avon and Somerset saw rises in the other major categories of crime. The most significant increase was a 77 per cent. rise in robbery. This is why the Government launched the Street Crime Initiative in April of this year, which covers the 10 Police Force areas with the worst robbery problem—including Avon and Somerset. The initiative builds new measures on top of plans which were already in progress to ensure co-ordinated action across all parts of Government to bring street robbers to swift and effective justice.
	The National Crime Recording Standard (NCRS), which was introduced in Avon and Somerset and several other forces in April 2001, and in all forces in April 2002, has contributed to changing levels of recorded crime. Across England and Wales, the NCRS, along with other changes to police recording practices, has had the effect of increasing recorded crime statistics by at least five per cent. this year, which suggest that crime levels have only increased by two per cent. In Avon and Somerset it has caused an uplift of 10 per cent. It is expected to have an even more marked effect on next year's crime statistics (an estimated uplift of 15–20 per cent.).
	The new standard aims to promote greater consistency between police forces in the recording of crime. Every police force must record all incidents, whether reported by victims, witnesses or third parties, and whether crime-related or not. This will result in the registration of an incident report by the police. Following the initial registration, an incident will be recorded as a crime (notifiable offence) if the circumstances as reported amount to a crime defined by law, and if there is no credible evidence to the contrary. As a result, incidents which previously may not have been recorded, are being included in subsequent crime statistics. The effect has been most marked nationally in relation to violence against the person where a five per cent. fall has been turned into an eight per cent. rise by the effects of greater levels of recording by the police.

Departmental Police (Bristol, East)

Jean Corston: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will set out, with statistical information relating as directly as possible to the Bristol, East constituency, the effects on Bristol of his Department's policies and actions (a) from 5 May 1994 to 2 May 1997, (b) from 2 May 1997 to 7 May 1998, and (c) since 7 May 1998.

John Denham: We are not able to provide statistical information for the effects of our policies prior to 2 May 1997 as this would amount to disproportionate cost.
	Brislington schools have been given approximately £89,000 for a schools' initiative. This will tackle issues through running "Coping with Teenagers" training for parents, a peer mentoring programme, 10 week Consequences of Crime course for those "at risk", a Lessons Withdrawal programme for those who would have been excluded and installing a new non-attendance computer system.
	Further funding has been granted for various Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) initiatives. The Kingsdown Estate has received over £257,000 for a partnership between the council, police and local residents to target an urban residential area with three tower blocks by providing additional 26 cameras to an existing system. The objectives of this scheme are to reduce fear of crime, improve personal and building security, reduce graffiti, vandalism, criminal damage and vehicle crime and improve communication and response of police patrols in the area. Further CCTV schemes have been set up in Symes, St. Paul's and St. Jude's. These form part of an integrated package to reduce drug-trading, fear of crime and prostitution.
	Several schemes have been set up under the Reducing Burglary Initiative in Knowle Estate, Hartcliffe (North and South), St. Agnes, Cromwell and Upper Easton. These involve providing additional window locks, "Dawn to Dusk" lighting, improved fencing and promotion of Neighbourhood Watch schemes. A significant amount of resources will placed into target hardening and measures are to be adopted to reduce repeat victimisation, improve offender detection, raise public awareness of crime prevention issues and provide research, rehabilitation and diversion of offenders. There will be interagency working including the police, Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships and Age Concern. Follow up schemes are planned to gather feedback from local agencies and offenders. Offenders will also be referred to drug rehabilitation.
	The City of Bristol will receive a minimum of £1.6 million over the next two years for a Communities Against Drugs programme. The funding is delivered through a plan agreed between the Drug Action Team, the Crime and Disorder Partnership and Local Authority. The intentions of this scheme are to disrupt drugs markets; tackle drug related crime and strengthen communities to resist drugs.
	Bristol is now operating an Intensive Surveillance and Supervision Programme (ISSP). ISSP is the most rigorous, non-custodial intervention available for young offenders to tackle their offending behaviour. There are 41 schemes operating nationally targeting 2,500 of the most prolific young offenders a year at an annual cost of £15 million. When fully operational it will have the capacity to deal with 25 young offenders at any one time—50 in a year. Currently there are three people on the scheme. The programmes are managed and funded by the Youth Justice Board and the Bristol scheme has been awarded a grant of over £895,000.
	Information on the Home Office and its policies is also published on its website (www.homeoffice.gov.uk). The Annual Report for 2001–02 has now been published and can also be found under the same website.

Committee Mandates

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  what the mandate of the Committee for the implementation of the programme of exchange, training and co-operation between law enforcement authorities (OISIN) is; how many times it has met over the last 12 months; what the UK representation on it is; what the annual cost of its work is to public funds; if he will list the items currently under its consideration; if he will take steps to increase its accountability and transparency to Parliament; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  what the mandate of the Committee for the implementation of the incentive, exchange, training and co-operation programme for the prevention of crime (Hippocrates) is; how many times it has met over the last 12 months; what the UK representation on it is; what the annual cost of its work is to public funds; if he will list the items currently under its consideration; if he will take steps to increase its accountability and transparency to Parliament; and if he will make a statement;
	(3)  what the mandate of the Committee for the implementation of the programme of incentives and exchanges for legal practitioners (Grotius general and criminal) is; how many times it has met over the last 12 months; what the UK representation on it is; what the annual cost of its work is to public funds; if he will list the items currently under its consideration; if he will take steps to increase its accountability and transparency to Parliament; and if he will make a statement;
	(4)  what the mandate of the Committee for the implementation of the incentive, exchange, training and co-operation programme for combating trade in human beings and the sexual exploitation of children (STOP) is; how many times it has met over the last 12 months; what the UK representation on it is; what the annual cost of its work is to public funds; if he will list the items currently under its consideration; if he will take steps to increase its accountability and transparency to Parliament; and if he will make a statement;
	(5)  what the mandate of the Committee for the implementation of the Joint Action establishing a programme of exchanges, training and co-operation for persons responsible for action to combat organised crime (Falcone) is; how many times it has met over the last 12 months; what the UK representation on it is; what the annual cost of its work is to public funds; if he will list the items currently under its consideration; if he will take steps to increase its accountability and transparency to Parliament; and if he will make a statement.

Bob Ainsworth: The Falcone, Hippocrates, Grotius criminal, Oisin II and STOP II Committees assist the European Commission in the management and implementation of programmes which co-fund projects to promote knowledge of and skills in combating organised crime (Falcone) and the prevention of crime (Hippocrates); to promote knowledge of Member States' legal and judicial systems and facilitate co-operation in criminal matters (Grotius criminal); to develop and enhance co-operation between police, customs and other national law enforcement authorities through exchanges, training courses and seminars (Oisin II); and to encourage practical co-operation between the persons responsible for action against the trade in human beings and the sexual exploitation of children in the Member States (STOP II).
	Each Committee normally meets twice a year, initially to agree the annual work programme and criteria for evaluating and selecting bids for funding, and subsequently to discuss the bids which have been received and agree the allocation of funds to successful projects.
	The UK is represented on each Committee by a Home Office official and an official from the UK Permanent Representation in Brussels. A representative from Her Majesty's Customs and Exercise also occasionally attends the Oisin II Committee when appropriate.
	The programmes are funded by the European Community budget and travel costs to attend Committee meetings are met by the European Commission. However, the Home Office (and HM Customs as appropriate) pays a subsistence allowance to cover attendance at a Committee meeting.
	The committees met on 22 and 23 July to agree the successful bids for funding for 2002.
	The Commission is required to prepare annual reports on the implementation of the programmes which are submitted to the Council and European Parliament. The reports are also published on the EUROPA Internet website. I do not see a need for further measures to increase the Committees' accountability and transparency.
	The Council is currently negotiating a new funding programme which will replace Falcone, Hippocrates, Grotius criminal, Oisin II and STOP II when they expire at the end of 2002. The creation of one programme should streamline the current administration process and therefore reduce costs. It will also allow the European Commission and Member States to have a broad overview of all the projects which are submitted for funding in the field of criminal law and crime prevention and consequently take a more strategic approach in selecting which projects to assist.

Parliamentary Questions

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will answer the question from the hon. Member for Portsmouth, South of 17 April, reference number 51632, on guidelines on sex abuse cases; and if he will make a statement.

John Denham: With apologies for the delay in responding I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave him on 24 July 2002, Official Report, column 1489W.

Parliamentary Questions

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will answer the question from the hon. Member for Portsmouth, South of 22 May, ref. 58561, on police officers in Portsmouth; and if he will make a statement.

John Denham: With apologies for the delay in responding I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave him on 18 July 2002, Official Report, column 561W.

Parliamentary Questions

Andrew Tyrie: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will answer the written question from the hon. Member for Chichester, tabled on 22 May, on the official travel of departmental and non- departmental special advisors.

Beverley Hughes: My right hon. Friend, the Home Secretary replied to the hon. Member on 24 July 2002, Official Report, column 1494W.

Entitlement Identity Card

Nick Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  if he will define the rigorous procedures to check (a) access to information and (b) protection from unauthorised access referred to in paragraph 1.3 of his consultation document on Entitlement Cards and Identity Fraud;
	(2)  what non-Governmental partners he plans will use the proposed entitlement identity card; and whether they will contribute revenue to the running costs of the card;
	(3)  what his estimate is of the cost of (a) a full cost-benefit analysis of an entitlement identity card scheme and (b) a proper risk assessment of the challenges posed by the procurement and roll-out, as referred to in Cmnd 5557;
	(4)  what checks he plans the issuing authority for a proposed entitlement identity card to make with the banking sector; and what exchanges of information are proposed;
	(5)  if he will list the organisations (a) to which he has sent a copy of the consultation paper on Entitlement Cards and Identity Fraud (Cmnd 5557) and (b) from which he has specifically requested views;
	(6)  what assessment he has made of the disadvantages of a non-compulsory, non-universal entitlement identity card;
	(7)  whether he plans that the proposed entitle- ment identity card would allow the (a) police and (b) paramedics and hospital staff access to medical records maintained on the smartcard;
	(8)  whether he plans that fingerprint records used in a proposed entitlement identity card would be available to the police;
	(9)  what estimate he has made of the number of (a) universal and (b) voluntary entitlement identity cards which will be (i) lost and (ii) stolen per annum;
	(10)  if he will define the term core personal information used in paragraph 1.3 of his consultation document on Entitlement Cards and Identity Fraud; and if he will list the particulars.

Beverley Hughes: My right hon. Friend, the Home Secretary, made a statement to the House on 3 July, announcing the publication of a consultation paper on Entitlement Cards and Identity Fraud. The consultation period will last until 10 January 2002. The Government has made it clear that the introduction of an entitlement card would be a major step and that it would not proceed without consulting widely and considering all the views expressed very carefully.
	One of the purposes of the consultation exercise is to identify potential partners. Views are welcomed in the consultation paper from organisations providing services in the public and private sectors on whether they would like to link services to a card scheme and what features they would want to see in a scheme that would most benefit their services. The consultation paper also discusses sharing revenue generated by potential partners' use of a card scheme to cover some of the costs of setting up and administrating a card scheme. If such an arrangement could be agreed, this would reduce the fees charged for entitlement cards.
	There are no plans to hold medical records on entitlement cards. The consultation paper discusses holding, at the cardholder's consent, a limited amount of medical information that could be used in an emergency, for example, current medical information on allergies.
	There are no plans for the issuing authority for any entitlement card to make checks with the banking sector.
	The set up and issuing costs for a universal scheme outlined in the consultation paper are based on the costs of building on the driving licence and passport systems extrapolated to cover all of the resident population. There is no separate estimate for a voluntary scheme.
	It is not possible to estimate how many people would apply for an entitlement card as opposed to an entitlement card issued in the form of a photocard driving licence or a passport card. On the assumption that those who do not hold driving licences and passports at present all opt for an entitlement card and that these cards would be lost or stolen at the same rate as driving licences were in 2000–01 (which is the latest date for which complete figures are available), it is estimated that 424,000 cards would be reported as lost or stolen each year once a scheme was fully implemented.
	A list of those organisations to which copies of the consultation paper have been or are in the process of being sent has been placed in the Library.
	The Government has invited views from all of these organisations. We intend to contact other appropriate organisations as they are suggested to us.
	The consultation paper requests views on what information should be held in any central register which might be used to administer a card scheme and what information should be displayed or stored on the card itself.
	The proposed central register and entitlement card/driving licence would hold core personal information necessary to administer an effective scheme. The information to be held on the card and in the register would include the holder's name; date and place of birth; residential address; validity dates of card(s) and issuing authority; digitised image of signature; photograph; National Insurance number; driver number; a unique personal number; nationality; sex; employment status; and possibly biometric information.
	The central register would also include cross references to other personal identifiers used in schemes linked to the entitlement card such as passport number and driver number. It might also include any secret password, pass phrase or PIN used to help authenticate transactions if it was decided to incorporate such a facility in a card scheme.
	The consultation paper invites views on what specific measures should be included in any entitlement card scheme to ensure compatibility with the principles of the Data Protection Act 1998.
	The consultation paper goes into detail about how a scheme would comply with all eight principles. Paragraphs 6.15 and 6.16 of the consultation paper discuss compliance with the Sixth and Seventh Principles of the Data Protection Act. The Sixth Principle stipulates that personal data shall be processed in accordance with the rights of data subjects under the Act. The Seventh Principle stipulates that appropriate technical and organisational measures shall be taken against unauthorised or unlawful processing of personal data and against accidental loss or destruction of, or damage to, personal data.
	The procedures adopted for any entitlement card scheme would build on the experience and expertise of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency and the UK Passport Service, both of which have a great deal of experience in administering large databases of personal information, including where they are administered by a third party under contract. Both are well placed to develop detailed procedures to comply with the requirements of the Seventh Principle should the Government decide to implement a scheme in this way.
	Paragraph 2.9 of the consultation paper assesses the disadvantages of a non-compulsory, non-universal entitlement card scheme. Such a voluntary scheme could not guarantee complete coverage of the population, service providers would need to support different ways of checking the entitlement of the people they served. Benefits for a scheme would therefore be lower than for a scheme where everyone was required to have a card. Those people most likely to benefit from a simple, straightforward means of asserting their rights and entitlements may well be amongst the least likely to apply for a voluntary one. Unless all of society were to hold one, the protections a card scheme could afford to the broader community would be reduced or eliminated.
	The costs of a full cost- benefit analysis of an entitlement card scheme, and of a proper risk assessment of the challenges of the procurement and roll-out cannot be determined until a decision is taken on what type of scheme, if any, the Government intend to proceed with. This will not be decided until the views received during the consultation exercise have been carefully analysed.
	There are no firm plans to use fingerprints in an entitlement card scheme. The consultation paper discusses the inclusion of biometric information as part of a scheme and fingerprinting is one of the options. In its discussion of the possible use of fingerprints, the paper explains that it would not be necessary to record fingerprints to the same standard used by the police. For example, there would not be a need to identify people using partial fingerprint records such as those retrieved from crime scenes.
	Paragraph 3.29 of the consultation document discusses whether the police should have access to any biometric information, such as fingerprints, held on the entitlement card database. Most offenders are already known to the police, who have their own biometric databases of fingerprints and DNA which are more sophisticated than anything envisaged for an entitlement card scheme. It may also cause public unease and a lack of confidence in an entitlement card scheme if the police were to have routine access. However, there may be cases in very closely prescribed circumstances, such as in matters of national security, or the prevention or detection of very serious crimes, where the police might have access to the information. Specific views on this issue are sought in the consultation paper, point 15 (iii).

Drugs Possession

Adrian Flook: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people were (a) arrested and (b) charged with possession of Class (i) A, (ii) B and (iii) C drugs in the West Somerset Division of Avon and Somerset Police in each year since 1997.

Bob Ainsworth: Arrest data are only available centrally for all drug offences as a whole, not for individual types of offences, so it is not possible to provide the level of detail requested. The figures given in the table relate to persons referred to courts in the West Somerset Division by the police for unlawful possession of drugs, and also to those found guilty of such offences.
	
		Table: Number of persons referred to courts for and found -- guilty of offences of unlawful possession of drugs, West Somerset,1997–2000
		
			  1997 1998 1999 2000 
		
		
			  
			 Class A 
			 Referred to court 2 4 2 1 
			 Found guilty 2 4 2 1 
			  
			 Class B 
			 Referred to court 1 2 3 2 
			 Found guilty 1 2 3 2 
			  
			 Class C 
			 Referred to court 0 0 0 0 
			 Found guilty 0 0 0 0 
		
	
	Source:
	Drugs and Alcohol Research

Drug Dealing (Lambeth)

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many arrests have been made in Lambeth for (a) dealing in cannabis and (b) dealing in class A drugs in each of the last 12 months for which figures are available.

Bob Ainsworth: The information requested is in the tables. It has been provided by the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis.
	
		Table 1: Number of arrests made in Lambeth for dealing in cannabis
		
			 Month Unlawful importation Possession with intent to supply unlawfully Unlawful supply Total 
		
		
			 July 2001 0 3 0 3 
			 August 2001 0 6 3 9 
			 September 2001 0 6 3 9 
			 October 2001 0 3 2 5 
			 November 2001 0 3 0 3 
			 December 2001 0 2 2 4 
			 January 2002 0 4 1 5 
			 February 2002 0 5 2 7 
			 March 2002 0 3 1 4 
			 April 2002 0 0 2 2 
			 May 2002 0 5 1 6 
			 June 2002 0 5 3 8 
			 Total 0 45 20 65 
		
	
	Source:
	Metropolitan Police Service.
	
		Table 2: Total of arrests made in Lambeth for dealing in Class A drugs
		
			 Month Unlawful importation Possession with intent to supply unlawfully Unlawful supply Total 
		
		
			 July 2001 0 4 41 45 
			 August 2001 0 3 6 9 
			 September 2001 0 3 4 7 
			 October 2001 0 4 3 7 
			 November 2001 0 7 1 8 
			 December 2001 0 7 2 9 
			 January 2002 0 7 1 8 
			 February 2002 0 9 2 11 
			 March 2002 0 12 8 20 
			 April 2002 0 5 2 7 
			 May 2002 2 5 34 41 
			 June 2002 0 10 7 17 
			 Total 2 76 111 189 
		
	
	Source:
	Metropolitan Police Service.

Immigration and Nationality Directorate

Virginia Bottomley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he is taking to improve the service for people who attempt to use the Immigration and Nationality Directorate hotline.

Beverley Hughes: In the last six months, calls answered by the Immigration and Nationality Enquiry Bureau have increased by a third resulting in an average in excess of 21,000 calls a week. This has been attributed to the introduction of new staff (brought in via a regular recruitment programme) and to the new computerised telephone system, which is helping to manage the queues more effectively by giving the answers to commonly asked questions whilst callers are queuing.

Immigration and Nationality Directorate

Virginia Bottomley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many registered letters have been lost when sent out from the Immigration and Nationality Directorate in Croydon in the last 12 months.

Beverley Hughes: Over the period June 2001 to June 2002, 119 claims for compensation were made against the Royal Mail for Recorded Delivery items sent out by the Immigration and Nationality Directorate in Croydon, but not delivered.

Terrorism

Bill Tynan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the ethical guidelines that will be followed in respect of co-operation with EU National Anti-Terrorist Evaluation Teams.

David Blunkett: Article 6 of the draft EU Council Decision for establishing a mechanism for evaluating the legal systems and their implementation at national level in the fight against terrorism (8811/2/02) states that the visits of the evaluation teams established under the Decision would be arranged by the Member State. Any visits arranged to the United Kingdom would be entirely in accordance with longstanding policy and codes of behaviour in relation to matters of national security and our national law, including the Official Secrets Act 1989. Article 9 of the draft Decision requires the evaluation teams to respect the confidentiality of any information they receive in connection with their task.

Child Pornography

Jimmy Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent discussions he has had with his European counterparts regarding tackling the distribution of child pornography on a European-wide scale; and what proposals were examined.

Hilary Benn: Member States of the European Union have been negotiating since January 2000 on a draft Framework Decision concerning the harmonisation of national laws in respect of the sexual exploitation of children and child pornography. The Instrument will require Member States to adopt common definitions and minimum penalties in relation to the possession, acquisition, production and distributing of child pornography. It has been on the agenda for discussion at JHA Councils on 27–28 September and 6–7 December 2001; and 25–26 April and 13–14 June 2002.
	On-line child pornography was also discussed at the meeting of G8 Justice and Interior Ministers in May. Ministers commissioned the relevant experts to: explore the creation of an international database to help locate victims and identified and apprehend perpetrators; and to implement a G8 strategy involving improved international co-operation; prevention; strengthened co-operation among law enforcement, industry, and civil society groups; public awareness; and outreach to other countries.

Child Pornography

Jimmy Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have been convicted of producing and possessing child pornography in the last year for which figures are available.

Hilary Benn: Convictions for producing child pornography are not directly identifiable on the Home Office Court Proceedings database.
	The available information relates to possessing, taking or making indecent photographs, or pseudo-photographs, of children under the Protection of Children Act 1978 and the Criminal Justice Act 1988 or for possessing obscene material for gain under the Obscene Publications Act 1959.
	This is contained in the table and relates to England and Wales in 2000.
	Statistics for 2001 will be available in the autumn.
	
		
			 Number of persons convicted at all courts for offences relating to pornography England and Wales 2000 1 ., 2 .OffenceStatute Total convicted 
			 Possessing obscene material for gain Obscene Publications Act 1959 S. 2 as amended by the Obscene Publications Act, 1964 Sec. 1 81 
			 Take or to make indecent photographs, or pseudo-photographs, of children Protection of Children Act 1978 Sections 1, 6 as amended by the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 Sec. 84 218 
			 Possession of an indecent photograph, or pseudo- 
			 photograph, of a child Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1988 Sec. 160 as amended by the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 Secs. 84 (4) and 86 (1) 
			  77 
		
	
	1 . These data are on the principal offence basis.
	2 . Staffordshire Police Force were only able to supply a sample of data for magistrates' courts proceedings covering one full week in each quarter of 2000. Although sufficient to estimate higher orders of data, these data are not robust at a detailed level and so are excluded from this analysis.

Child Pornography

Jimmy Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what measures have been taken since 1997 to prevent the distribution of child pornography.

Hilary Benn: The Government is determined to tackle child pornography whether on or off line and the criminal law applies equally to both.
	In January 2001 we raised the maximum penalties for taking, making, distributing or showing indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of children to 10 years imprisonment (from three years), and the maximum penalty for simple possession of such material to five years (from six months). Also in 2001 we made the importation of indecent or obscene material a serious arrestable offence to allow Customs and Excise officers and the police greater powers in investigating child pornography offences.
	In response to concerns about the availability of child pornography on the Internet, a hotline for reporting this and other potentially illegal material was established by the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) an industry funded organisation, in December 1996. Since its inception over 40,000 items of child pornography have been removed by Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in response to the notice and take down procedure. The IWF also sends details to the police, or, since the majority of child pornography originates outside the United Kingdom, to the enforcement agency of the country concerned, via the National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS). In February 2002, the IWF extended its policy, recommending to ISPs that they do not carry newsgroups which have been identified as regularly hosting child pornography or those with names that appear to advertise child pornography.
	In November 2000, my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary, announced a £25 million investment in the police over three years specifically to fight hi-tech crime and to enhance the capability of the police at a national and local level to investigate computer related offences, including the possession and distribution of illegal pornography. This included the setting up last year of a National High Tech Crime Unit within the National Crime Squad as a centre of excellence, which has already mounted a number of investigations in this area, as well as providing support to investigations let by other forces.

Child Pornography

Jimmy Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many officers work in the UK special paedophile unit; what their annual budget is; and what plans he has to increase staff and resources.

John Denham: Each United Kingdom police force is individually responsible for the investigation of such crimes within its own area and most have their own specialist units. In addition the National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS) provides support through the provision of intelligence by its Serious Sex Offenders Unit, which has eight staff and a budget of £370,000 per annum and the National Crime Squad and National High Tech Crime Unit carry out operations and provide assistance to other forces.
	Allocation of resources now and in the future for the investigation of paedophile crime is a matter for individual Chief Officers of Police.

EU Committees

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the EU Committee for implementation of the action programme to tackle discrimination is next due to meet; whether representatives of the Scottish Executive (a) have been and (b) are members of it; and if he will make a statement.

Patricia Hewitt: I have been asked to reply.
	The next meeting of the committee is scheduled for 27 November 2002.
	The Scottish Executive is regularly consulted on, and is fully involved in discussions, at official and Ministerial level, with the Department on the formulation of EU policy which touch on matters which fall within the responsibilities of the Scottish Executive.

Public Disorder

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent assessment he has made of whether the PSA target to reduce the level of disorder will be met by March.

John Denham: holding answer 10 April 2002
	There is no Public Service Agreement target for disorder. However, the Government is committed to the reduction of disorder and anti-social behaviour in our neighbourhoods. Among the important steps we have taken are the measures in the Police Reform Act 2002 to: improve the effectiveness of Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs); create community support officers and to stop nuisance use of motor vehicles. The majority of Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships now have anti-social behaviour co-ordinators in place to ensure effective local delivery of reduction in anti-social behaviour.

Ethnic Minorities

Dominic Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the ethnic groups enjoying separate monitoring; and if he will estimate the size of each such group.

Beverley Hughes: holding answer 21 June 2002
	There is no central record of monitoring of ethnic or religious groups taking place in Great Britain. The key source of population data for monitoring ethnicity is the Census. Census 1991 data is the latest available and Census 2001 data should become available from the Office for National Statistics for the United Kingdom in 2003.
	The ethnicity question in the 2001 Census is based on a "self-classification" coding system. Individuals can identify themselves against the existing 16 ethnic Census categories, and if none of these capture the individual's ethnicity, additional space is provided where they can identify their ethnicity. As such, the Census captures the full breadth of ethnic groups.
	For each ethnic group, the Census can provide information on demographic profile, household structure and type of accommodation, health, educational achievement and employment.
	In relation to the new Race Relations (Amendment) 2000 Act, the Specific Duty requires, among other things, that public bodies carry out ethnic monitoring.

Narcotics and Psychotropics

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the EU Committee for the application of the rules on the manufacture and placing on the market of certain substances used in the illicit manufacture of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances is next due to meet; whether representatives of the Scottish Executive (a) have been and (b) are members of it; and if he will make a statement.

Bob Ainsworth: The procedures and guidance for meetings of the Drug Precursor Committee are contained in Articles 10 of both European Union Council Regulation 3677/90 and European Union Council Directive 92/109.
	The Committee usually meets every quarter and the next meeting is scheduled to take place in Brussels on 19 September 2002.
	The United Kingdom Government is a member of the Committee, represented at all meetings by the Home Office, the lead United Kingdom Government Department for this Committee. When necessary other Government Departments also attend and it is open to the Scottish Executive to do so.
	The Scottish Executive is regularly consulted on, and is fully involved in, discussions with the Home Office at official and Ministerial level on the formulation of European Union policies that touch on matters falling within the responsibilities of the Scottish Executive.

Faith Communities

Paul Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list projects involving faith communities which are supported by his Department.

Beverley Hughes: The Home Office supports projects involving the following faith-based groups:
	
		
			 Name of organisation Faith Amount of grant Period of funding Purpose of grant 
		
		
			 Care for the Family Christian £94,457 2002–04 Developing training resources for parenting and marriage enrichment among South Asian communities. 
			 Children's Society Christian £120,888 2002–04 Developing parenting education for fathers, particularly those from Asian Muslim communities. 
			 Churches Community Work Alliance Christian £44,500 
			 (annual) Ongoing Strategic funding for core operartions 
			 Council for Mosques Day Centre Muslim £149,984 2002–05 Enables voluntary and community organisations to employ person to capacity-build community by increasing number of local volunteers. 
			 Council of Sikh Gurdwaras in Birmingham Sikh £138,421 2002–05 Enables voluntary and community organisations to employ person to capacity-build community by increasing numbers of local volunteers. 
			 Family Matters Institute Christian £122,400 2001–03 Mobilising community resources from voluntary groups attached to churches and faith communities to strengthen family life 
			 Gujarat Hindu Society (Preston) Hindu £8,200 2002–03 Fostering community cohesion by bringing together young people from different communities and providing sports and leisure activities during the summer holidays which lessen the likelihood of them being involved in crime. 
			 Gurdwara Guru Teg Bahadur Sahib (Dudley) Sikh £49,950 2002–05 Enables voluntary and community organisations to employ person to capacity-build community by increasing numbers of local volunteers. 
			 Interfaith Network Baha'i, Buddhist, Christian, Jain, Jewish, Hindu, Muslim, Sikh and Zoroastrian. £180,000 2001–04 Strategic funding for core operartions 
			 Interlink Foundation Jewish £75,000 
			 (annual) Ongoing Strategic funding for core operations 
			 KJ Academy Christian £20,000 2001–02 Helping the African-Caribbean community in East London to develop good parenting skills, to improve parental participation in their children's education and promote male role models. 
			 Lancashire Council of Mosques Muslim £172,552 2000–03 To support building mutually respectful and understanding relationships between minority ethnic communities in Lancashire and Lancashire Constabulary, so people from those communities will see the police as a worthwhile career option. 
			 Langley House Trust Christian £1,260,000 
			 (annual) Ongoing Provision of accommodation for hard-to-place offenders who are otherwise refused accommodation. 
			 Langley House Trust Christian £500,000 
			 (annual) Ongoing Additional funding to enable enhanced supervision of highest risk offenders who are accommodated. 
			 League of British Muslims Muslim £41,540 
			 (annual) Ongoing Strategic funding for core operations 
			 Liverpool Church of England Council for Social Aid Christian £429,000 
			 (annual) Ongoing Running an approved bail hostel 
			 Muslim Khatri Association (Leicester) Muslim £17,250 2002–03 Foster community cohesion by bringing together young people from different communities and providing sports and leisure activities during the summer holidays which lessen the likelihood of them being involved in crime. 
			 Muslim Welfare House (Finsbury Park) Muslim £133,956 2000–03 Providing facilities for women-only employment, training and education opportunities to address language and cultural barriers faced by minority ethnic women, and emotional and practical help for those with domestic or marital difficulties; and helping minority ethnic young men, access a wider range of employment, training and education opportunities than otherwise available. 
			 Preston Muslim Forum Muslim £8,800 2002–03 Foster community cohesion by bringing together young people from different communities and providing sports and leisure activities during the summer holidays which lessen the likelihood of them being involved in crime. 
			 Ripon Diocesan Church of England Council for Social Concern Christian £852,000 
			 (annual) Ongoing Running two approved bail hostels 
			 Shree Hindu Community Association Hindu £138,093 2002–05 Enables voluntary and community organisations to employ person to capacity-build community by increasing numbers of local volunteers. 
			 Society of St Vincent de Paul Christian £826,000 
			 (annual) Ongoing Running two approved bail hostels 
			 Talking Matters Association Jewish £45,000 2002–04 Tackling social exclusion of Orthodox Jewish communities by increasing linguistic, cultural and educational opportunities. 
			 Tranmere Community Project of Tranmere Community Church Christian £84,620 2002–05 Enables voluntary and community organisations to employ person to capacity-build community by increasing numbers of local volunteers. 
			 West London Mission Christian £422,000 
			 (annual) Ongoing Running an approved bail hostel 
			 YMCA England Christian £113,360 2001–03 Developing quality standards in parenting education and providing a mentoring service to YMCAs and other groups wishing to undertake work in this field. 
			 YMCA England Christian £113,360 2001–03 Providing time for carers to reflect on their parenting experiences, working with families during school holidays and offering support on specific parenting issues.

Ecstasy

Paul Stinchcombe: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether seized ecstasy tablets are tested to see whether they are cut with other illegal drugs.

Bob Ainsworth: Ecstasy can, and does kill unpredictably. There is no such thing as a safe dose and Ecstasy does not need to be contaminated with any other drug to kill.
	Seized ecstasy tablets (MDMA) are tested for the presence of other illegal drugs by the Forensic Science Service (FSS). The analytical methods employed by the FSS to test ecstasy tablets identify a range of other controlled substances, such as other ecstasy type drugs; opiates such as heroin and codeine; cocaine; amphetamines and methylamphetamine; diazepam; cannabis and methadone. The test will identify material down to a concentration of one per cent. or less.
	In the case of a suspected ecstasy related fatality, the FSS would screen for, and if present, quantify the ecstasy in the deceased's blood. The FSS would also screen for other common controlled substances, such as the types listed above.

Criminal Justice and Police Act

Nick Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to amend the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001 with regard to the powers of the police to confiscate alcohol in sealed containers.

Bob Ainsworth: The Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001 provides the police with new powers to confiscate alcohol from persons who are drinking in areas that have been designated by the relevant local authority under section 13 of the Act. The Act also amended existing powers to confiscate alcohol from under-age drinkers in public places. In both instances it is now clear that the police can confiscate alcohol in containers that have been opened, but not alcohol in sealed containers.
	We have discussed the current position with the Association of Chief Police Officers and we have asked them for advice on whether a further change in the law would be helpful, to clarify or strengthen police powers to confiscate alcohol, including alcohol in sealed containers, from under-age drinkers or from persons who are drinking and causing nuisance in designated areas. We shall seek to introduce any change in the law as soon as Parliamentary time allows.

Drug-related Crime

Paul Stinchcombe: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of (a) the number of (i) crimes and (ii) violent crimes committed per annum in the UK to finance the purchase of illegal drugs and (b) the total value of the goods and money stolen per annum in the UK to finance the purchase of illegal drugs.

Bob Ainsworth: Recorded crime figures include statistics on drugs offences and on acquisitive crimes, such as burglary, but do not record whether the latter are related to an offender's drug habits. Levels of drug-related crime cannot be measured directly as no routine statistical data are collected on whether an offence may have been committed as a result of drug taking. However, the NEW-ADAM (New English and Welsh Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring) research published between 1998 and 2001 sheds some light on the links between drugs and acquisitive crime. The research is insufficiently advanced, however, to reveal the precise links between drugs and violent crime. Neither are we able to supply an estimate of the total value of the goods and money stolen per annum in the United Kingdom to finance the purchase of illegal drugs.
	NEW-ADAM research by Bennett reported in Home Office Research Study 205, "Drugs and Crime: The Results of the Second Developmental Stage of the NEW-ADAM Programme" and in Research Findings 148 and 183 has shown that the mean number of property crimes committed by those using heroin and cocaine/crack was around 200 in the last 12 months compared to 52 for those using neither heroin nor crack/cocaine. Over forty per cent. of arrestees thought that their drug use and crime were connected, and when asked about this connection, more than two-thirds said that this was due to the need for money to buy drugs. Those who tested positive for three or more drugs reported on average three times the number of offences and eight times the illegal income, as those who did not test positive. They also reported twice as many arrests in the last twelve months.
	Findings reported in "Arrest Referral: Emerging Findings from the National Monitoring and Evaluation Programme" (Home Office: Sondhi, O'Shea, Williams, 2002) were used to estimate that the total spend on illegal drugs by those seen by Arrest Referral workers as around £550 million (or around £11,000 for an individual), although not all of this figure will be directly attributable to crime. The NEW-ADAM research has also found that in the year 1999–2000, on average arrestees reported generating just over £5,000 in illegal income, the most common source of which was property crime.

Speeding

Bill Tynan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many drivers were fined and how much was paid in fines for speeding in (a) England, (b) Wales and (c) Northern Ireland in (i) 2000 and (ii) 2001; and how many police man hours were used to catch drivers who were guilty of speeding in (A) England, (B) Wales and (C) Northern Ireland in each year.

Bob Ainsworth: The table shows the total number and amount (£) of fines ordered to be paid following conviction for speeding offences within England and Wales separately for 2000. As the majority of such offences are dealt with by the issue of a fixed penalty, the table also shows the total amount of fixed penalties ordered to be paid. Not all fines and fixed penalties will have been paid. Information for 2001 will be available in the Autumn.
	The total police time in England spent on traffic is eight per cent. We cannot break this figure down into time spent on speeding offences without a specific data gathering exercise which would be both time consuming and could only be collected at disproportionate cost.
	Information relating to Northern Ireland is a matter for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.
	
		Fines and fixed penalties data for speeding offences, England and Wales, 2000
		
			   Court Proceedings  Fixed Penalties  
			  Number of Fines Total Amount of Fine (£) Average Fine Number of Tickets Estimated Revenue (£) 1  
		
		
			 England 128,700 17,011,000 £132 926,760 40,160,000 
			 Wales 10,500 1,083,000 £103 96,720 4,191,000 
		
	
	1 "Estimate" based on the following fixed penalty charges—£40 up to 31 October 2000 and £60 as from 1 November 2000.

Operation Landmark

Jimmy Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on Operation Landmark and what resources are being put into it.

John Denham: Operation Landmark was an international police operation led by the National Crime Squad to combat paedophile activity on the Internet, focusing on open source data in newsgroups hosted by a British-based Internet Service Provider in November 2001.
	By prioritising the email accounts of the most active individuals in the newsgroups, 130 targets were identified around the world. The National Crime Squad produced evidential packs on the targets and briefed officers from the relevant national and domestic police forces. Detailed investigations were then launched against each target; in the United Kingdom each of the ten targets were arrested and subsequently charged and their computer equipment seized. Eleven child victims have been identified as a result of the operation so far. The operation involved the National Crime Squad, Interpol, nine United Kingdom police forces and 12 other international police forces.
	Other recent operations against paedophile use of the Internet have had good results at home and internationally. These have involved United Kingdom police forces, the National Criminal Intelligence Service and the National Crime Squad and the new National High Tech Crime Unit within it.

Police Stations (Telephone Response)

Virginia Bottomley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average answering time is for someone ringing a police station directly in (a) Surrey, (b) England and (c) Wales.

John Denham: Information on the average answering time for someone telephoning a police station is not collected centrally.

Asylum Seekers (Afghanistan)

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many failed asylum seekers from Afghanistan have been repatriated in each of the last 12 months.

Beverley Hughes: The latest available information on the number of Afghan principal asylum applicants removed from the United Kingdom relates to 2001 and is given in the table. These figures exclude persons departing voluntarily without informing the Home Office.
	
		
			 Afghan principal asylum applicants removed  1 , 2 , 3 , 4  
		
		
			 January 2001 10 
			 February 2001 * 
			 March 2001 5 
			 April 2001 5 
			 May 2001 5 
			 June 2001 * 
			 July 2001 5 
			 August 2001 20 
			 September 2001 5 
			 October 2001 15 
			 November 2001 20 
			 December 2001 30 
			 Total 125 
		
	
	Figures rounded to the nearest 5, with * = 1 or 2.
	1 Provisional data, subject to change.
	2 Data have been estimated due to data quality issues.
	3 Includes persons departing "voluntarily" after enforcement action had been initiated against them.
	4 Nationality breakdown of dependants removed is not available.
	I regret that information on the destination of asylum seekers removed or departing voluntarily from the United Kingdom is not recorded centrally and could be obtained only by examining individual case files at disproportionate cost. Therefore it is not possible to determine how many of these persons were returned or departed voluntarily to Afghanistan. However, it has until recently been our policy to not normally enforce returns to Afghanistan, so the majority of those recorded above will have been returned to another (third) country rather than to Afghanistan.
	Information on the nationality of asylum seekers removed in the calendar year 2001 was published on 31 July in the Home Office Statistical Bulletin "Asylum Statistics United Kingdom 2001", copies of which are available in the Library and via the Home Office Research, Development and Statistics Directorate (RDS) website at http://www.homeoffice.gov. uk/rds/immigration1.html. Nationality data for the first quarter (January to March) of 2002 will be published on 30 August on the RDS website.

Probation Service

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much money is owed within the probation service; and (a) by and (b) to whom it is owed.

Hilary Benn: The Home Office only has records relating to the outstanding debts on capital raised for Probation Service investment, dating from the period before 1990. The Home Office pays local authorities a grant in respect of the principal and interest on this capital financing debt. A table of the local authority debts, as at 1 April 2001, is provided in the table. Between 1990 and 2001, capital debt was financed by the local authority capital financing standard spending assessment (SSA). Since April 2001 however, local authorities are no longer responsible for Probation Service capital investment.
	With the advent of the National Probation Service from 1 April 2001, the National Probation Directorate is now collecting and collating the information relating to the 2001–02 accounts for the 42 local probation boards, including any creditors. When this exercise has been completed and audited, the consolidated accounts will be laid before Parliament.
	
		Pre-1990 System Loan Debt Outstanding at 1 April 2001
		
			 Probation Service Amount 
		
		
			 Bristol City Council 430,722 
			 Bedfordshire CC 133,011 
			 West Berkshire DC 462,820 
			 Buckinghamshire CC 494,377 
			 Cambridgeshire CC N/A 
			 Cornwall CC 453,636 
			 Derbyshire CC 240,286 
			 Devon CC 448,056 
			 Dorset CC 112,802 
			 Durham CC 279,329 
			 Essex CC 295,496 
			 Gloucestershire CC 180,780 
			 Hampshire CC 228,181 
			 Worcestershire CC 177,729 
			 Hertfordshire CC 7,334 
			 East Riding of Yorkshire Council 486,629 
			 Kent CC 164,705 
			 Lancashire CC 821,006 
			 Leicestershire CC 33,726 
			 Lincolnshire CC 129,383 
			 Norfolk CC 344,554 
			 Northamptonshire CC 251,273 
			 Northumberland CC 11,01,053 
			 South Tyneside MDC 268,905 
			 Oxfordshire CC 74,831 
			 Shropshire CC 151,943 
			 Somerset CC 431,524 
			 Staffordshire CC 1,067,882 
			 Surrey CC 15,230 
			 East Sussex CC 72,207 
			 Middlesbrough UA 566,364 
			 Warwickshire CC 75,529 
			 Walsall MDC 1,718,807 
			 Wiltshire CC 139,003 
			 Receiver of the Metropolitan Police District 3,522,361 
			 LB Croydon 67,801 
			 Royal Borough of Kingston-upon-Thames 6,284 
			 LB Barnet 492,116 
			 LB Enfield 22,322 
			 LB Hillingdon 19,713 
			 LB Hounslow 11,917 
			 LB Newham 12,682 
			 LB Redbridge 234,737 
			 LB Waltham Forest 20,626 
			 Bolton MDC 393,825 
			 Bury MDC 269,132 
			 Manchester City Council 632,816 
			 Oldham MDC 322,559 
			 Rochdale MDC 307,784 
			 Salford City Council 331,033 
			 Stockport MDC 431,116 
			 Tameside MDC 2,183,018 
			 Trafford MDC 3,893,774 
			 Wigan MDC 458,527 
			 North Yorkshire CC 59,430 
			 Barnsley MDC 165,094 
			 Doncaster MDC 131,099 
			 Rotherham MDC 82,032 
			 Sheffield City Council 175,721 
			 Bradford MDC 172,178 
			 Calderdale MDC 68,726 
			 Kirkless MDC 139,253 
			 Leeds City Council 259,145 
			 Wakefield MDC 113,580 
			 Carmarthenshire CBC 164,927 
			 Bridgend CBC 4,069 
			 Cardiff City Council 9,843 
			 Neath Port Talbot CBC 365,970 
			 Newport CBC 194,692 
			 Flintshire CBC 101,809 
			 Powys CBC 92,092 
			 Total 26,671,237

Throckmorton Accumulation Centre

Peter Luff: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the health and environmental implications of locating (a) pregnant and (b) other asylum seekers at Throckmorton, with particular reference to (i) the Hill of Moor landfill site and (ii) the foot and mouth disease burial site; and if he will make a statement.

Beverley Hughes: These issues will be assessed as part of the planning process.

Child-related Work

Jimmy Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what strategy he has to ensure that all people who work with children have the necessary skills and experience to do the job.

John Denham: The Government's objective is that all those who work with children and young people should be supported and trained appropriately. There is already substantial investment in training for professionals in the public sector who work with children and young people but we are always looking at how we can do more. For example, we are currently developing proposals aimed at bringing consistency to the training and development of all school support staff, which will be the subject of consultation during the Autumn term; we are also introducing a 3-year degree level qualification in social work in England from September 2003 to replace the current 2-year Diploma courses.
	The Cross-cutting Review of Children at Risk, within the Government's Spending Review 2002, recommended that there should be a common core of competence and knowledge shared by all who work with children and young people. CYPU is responsible for taking this recommendation forward, in close conjunction with lead Government Departments and with the Sector Skills Councils who will be responsible for Occupational Standards across the children's sector.

Financial Services Sector

Jackie Lawrence: To ask the Minister for Women how many fair pay champions have been nominated to spread best practice in the financial services sector.

Patricia Hewitt: Fair pay champions have been appointed to assist the Government's drive towards achieving equal pay for women through the promotion and sharing of good practice in their sectors. We are currently working with the Equal Opportunities Commission to understand how the pay gap varies from sector to sector, including the financial services sector, and to support sectors in closing the gender pay gap.
	No Fair Pay champion has yet been appointed in the Financial Services Sector but we do have a Fair Pay Champion in the Retail Finance sector, a sector currently undergoing major organisational change and one with the highest pay gap at 42 per cent.

Financial Services Sector

Jackie Lawrence: To ask the Minister for Women how many financial sector employers in the (a) public and (b) private sector have carried out pay reviews with a view to ensuring equal pay since 2000.

Patricia Hewitt: In relation to the public sector, the Government has committed all Civil Service departments and agencies to undertake an equal pay review and have in place action plans to close any equal pay gaps, by April 2003. Departments and agencies are at various stages of reviewing their pay systems. In relation to the private sector, we do not have this information and it would involve disproportionate cost to provide it. However the Kingsmill Report included examples of financial sector organisations which have carried out employment and pay reviews or are committed to doing so. The Equal Opportunities Commission is also supporting organisations in conducting Equal Pay reviews and is planning to monitor progress by employers.

Revolution

Angus Robertson: To ask the Minister for Women when the EU Committee for the action programme to promote gender equality is next due to meet; whether representatives of the Scottish Executive (a) have been and (b) are members of it; and if she will make a statement.

Patricia Hewitt: The EU Equality Advisory Committee will meet on 9 October. An official will attend this meeting from the Department's Women and Equality Unit.
	Each Member State delegation is considered to be one committee member. Each member can not be represented by more than one person. However, with the Chairperson's permission, the delegations may be accompanied by experts, at the expense of the Member State concerned.
	The Equal Opportunities Commission is separately represented at the Equality Advisory Committee.
	The Scottish Executive is regularly consulted on, and is fully involved in discussions, at official and Ministerial level, with the Department on the formulation of EU policy which touched on matters which fall within the responsibilities of the Scottish Executive.

SOLICITOR-GENERAL

Crown Prosecution Service

Claire Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Solicitor-General 
	(1)  what weaknesses have been identified in the CPS complaints handling procedure; what has been done to address the weaknesses; and what performance evaluations have taken place in each CPS region to ensure that corrective action has been effective;
	(2)  what good practice has been identified in the CPS complaints handling procedure; where examples of good practice arose; and what action has been taken to share good complaints handling practice throughout the CPS regions.

Harriet Harman: holding answer 10 June 2002
	Her Majesty's Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate (HM CPSI), which undertakes regular inspections of all CPS Areas and a study by the Joint Standing Committee on Good Practice, (which incorporates membership from both HM CPSI and the CPS) along with the complaints statistics that are compiled on a quarterly basis and are included in the CPS Annual Report reveal the following weaknesses in the CPS complaint's procedure:
	(i) There is a wide variation in the quality of complaints processing. Although all CPS Areas maintain a register of complaints received from the public, some Areas record them alphabetically whilst others record them chronologically. There are occasions when it is difficult to identify what has happened to a complaint and whether follow up action has been taken.
	(ii) The annual target for 2001–02, was to increase to 93 per cent. the proportion of replies to complaints which are made within 10 days. This target was not met. Timely replies were made in 81.9 per cent. of cases compared with 95.3 per cent. in 2000–01.
	The main recommendations suggested include the use of a standard framework for logging complaints and that there should be periodic reviews of complaints by senior management to assess the timeliness and quality of responses to complaints and to analyse any developing trends with a view to identifying aspects of performance and processes which may need improvement or revision.
	Performance evaluation is an ongoing process which is assessed by HM CPSI when they revisit a specific CPS Area. HM CPSI reports on CPS Areas can be obtained on request to the relevant CPS Area.
	The following good practises within the CPS complaints procedure were identified nationally:
	(i) A consistent approach in defining what is a complaint.
	(ii) The use of a Register to log all complaints.
	(iii) A consistent approach to time limits (a full response to be sent to the complainant within 3 working days of receipt into the Department, or failing that an acknowledgement to be sent within this time and the full response to be sent within 10 working days).
	A Good Practice guide, approved by the CPS Board in June, will shortly be circulated to staff via the CPS intranet.

Crown Prosecution Service

Claire Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Solicitor-General if she records correspondence and complaints primarily by the name of the sender; how complaints from the public have influenced the processes employed by the CPS, the Solicitor-General and the Attorney General; and if complaints have been reviewed by (a) the HMCPSI and (b) law officers in an internal review.

Harriet Harman: All correspondence (including complaints) received in the Legal Secretariat to the Law Officers is recorded in a mail index by name. It is then assigned to a file according to the subject matter and source. The Law Officers consider what action is required on case-by-case basis depending on the nature of the complaint.
	All CPS Areas maintain a register of complaints received from the public. They have a discretion to record them alphabetically or chronologically according to when the complaint was received. Area inspections by HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate routinely include scrutiny of the complaints register, as well as the timeliness and quality of responses to complaints. This aspect of the scrutiny by HMCPSI is undertaken with the assistance of lay inspectors.
	Although not mandatory, the Crown Prosecution Service encourages managers to periodically review and analyse complaints received with a view to identifying aspects of performance and processes which may need improvement or revision. The Joint Standing Committee on Good Practice (which incorporates membership from both HMCPSI and the CPS) has recently concluded a study of the processes within the CPS for handling complaints. Its proposed guidance was approved by the CPS Board in June. Considerable emphasis is placed on the scope for continuous improvement which is achievable through proper analyses of, and response to complaints.
	In view of the scrutiny of complaints handling effected by HMCPSI, the Law Officers have not found it necessary to instigate an internal review of the CPS complaints procedure.

Crown Prosecution Service

Claire Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Solicitor-General what inquiries are being held by the CPS concerning the measures needed to enable vulnerable or intimidated witnesses to give their best evidence.

Harriet Harman: holding answer 10 June 2002
	The Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999 provides for special measures to be made available to vulnerable or intimidated witnesses to enable them to give their best evidence. The Government has announced that these measures are to be introduced on a phased basis from 24 July 2002.
	The CPS is not holding any inquiries on these measures, but Areas are having discussions with their partner agencies in the Criminal Justice System to ensure both the effective implementation of the special measures and that appropriate action is taken where a witness is vulnerable or intimidated.

Crown Prosecution Service

Claire Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Solicitor-General which CPS areas have not reduced the time taken from arrest to sentence of persistent young offenders from 142 to 71 days; and what action has been taken by each failing region to comply with Government targets.

Harriet Harman: holding answer 10 June 2002
	The time taken from arrest to sentence of persistent young offenders exceeds 71 days in 13 of the 42 CPS Areas: Avon and Somerset, Cambridgeshire, Derbyshire, Gloucestershire, Lancashire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, London, Northamptonshire, Surrey, Sussex, Thames Valley and Warwickshire.
	The Crown Prosecution Service has implemented measures for contributing to the reduction of delay which draw upon the recommendations of good practice made by HMCPS Inspectorate in its report published in May 2002, including the use of Youth Specialists to identify and review cases involving persistent young offenders and to expedite those cases at court and participation in inter agency steering groups at strategic and practitioner levels to monitor the progress of cases involving persistent young offenders and to promote joint strategies to overcome barriers to progress.

Crown Prosecution Service

Claire Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Solicitor-General what training CPS staff have received in achieving Best Evidence guidance on preparing for and conducting interviews with vulnerable and intimidated witnesses; and which and how many staff have been trained on each CPS area.

Harriet Harman: holding answer 10 June 2002
	The CPS will not be involved in interviewing vulnerable or intimidated witnesses, however, the guidance for achieving "Best Evidence" will be used by lawyers when reviewing video recorded evidence.
	The training consists of an e-learning package, followed by a three day practical course. To date 269 members of staff have received this training. These staff members are comprised of both caseworkers and lawyers from across all the Areas.

Crown Prosecution Service

Claire Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Solicitor-General how each area has responded to the CPS action plan on diversity; and how this response addressed the issues raised in the report by Sylvia Denman and the Commission for Racial Equality.

Harriet Harman: holding answer 10 June 2002
	All CPS Areas have produced their own Race Equality Action Plans. Areas have set employment targets for 2002 and 2005 for minority ethnic staff.
	The CPS Race Equality Scheme (RES) was launched on 14 May 2002. The RES is a national three-year strategy on race. All the recommendations of the Commission for Racial Equality and Sylvia Denman have been accepted by the CPS and those which have not already been implemented are included in the RES. All Areas must ensure that they comply with the national RES.

Crown Prosecution Service

Claire Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Solicitor-General what assessment she has made of the impact of training programmes on the (a) efficiency and (b) effectiveness of each CPS region.

Harriet Harman: holding answer 12 June 2002
	CPS training is provided and assessed both nationally and locally. Assessment of the impact of training programmes is undertaken at a number of levels in the CPS. National training programmes are monitored and evaluated centrally to assess their effectiveness overall in meeting their aims and supporting the achievement of business plan objectives.
	In addition to the national training plan, Areas identify their own local training needs and solutions, which they believe will help improve their effectiveness and efficiency. This is set out in Area Training Plan or programme. Area management teams assess the overall impact of local training events and programmes as part of the Business planning and review process.
	Staff and line managers have joint responsibility for assessing the impact of training on individual performance. These reviews take place as part of the appraisal process and training is discussed at the annual and interim performance reviews.
	41 Areas and HQ are accredited as Investors in People, and as such meet the baseline standard for evaluation of training and the assessment of its impact on performance.

Crown Prosecution Service

Claire Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Solicitor-General if she will make a statement on the work of each CPS region in relation to the conduct of prosecutions and on the related assessments made.

Harriet Harman: holding answer 12 June 2002
	The role of the CPS is to prosecute cases firmly, fairly and effectively, when there is sufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction and when it is in the public interest to do so. The Code for Crown Prosecutors, which is issued under section 10 of the Prosecution of Offences Act 1985, is of fundamental importance to each CPS Prosecutor. It provides guidance on the general principles to be applied in every case irrespective of geography.
	Her Majesty's CPS Inspectorate assesses the application of the Code in each Area inspection. Areas are inspected biennially. In his annual report for the year ending September 2001, HM Chief Inspector of the CPS reported that for cases sampled during Area inspections during the year, his inspectors were satisfied in 98.9 per cent. of cases sampled that the initial review decision was in accordance with the evidential test in the Code for Crown Prosecutors, and that the public interest test was satisfied in 99.9 per cent. of cases sampled.

Crown Prosecution Service

Claire Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Solicitor-General what nature of training is provided for Crown prosecutors with respect to the code for Crown prosecutors; and what assessment has been carried out on the effectiveness of this training programme.

Harriet Harman: holding answer 12 June 2002
	An Induction Course for Lawyers is delivered to all new prosecutors within the Crown Prosecutors within 2 months of recruitment, which includes a session specifically on the Role of the Crown Prosecutor of which the Code for Crown Prosecutors is the core element.
	Evaluation of the effectiveness of these training programmes is assessed in three ways:
	Meetings between the Prosecutor and their line manager ultimately leading to the Crown Prosecutor's probationary review.
	Each Unit Head analyses the overall performance of their Crown Prosecutors against the performance indicators for each Area.
	All tutors involved in the delivery of these programmes are invited to feedback and contribute to updating the training briefs.

Crown Prosecution Service

Claire Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Solicitor-General what assessment she has made of how the most qualified lawyers in the CPS have spent their time since the production of Sir Iain Glidewell's report in June 1998.

Harriet Harman: holding answer 12 June 2002
	The Crown Prosecution Service does not record in detail the individual tasks on which individual lawyers are deployed. Following the recommendations in Sir Iain Glidewell's Report the Crown Prosecution Service has been putting in place operational structures that enable its lawyers to spend more time advising the police and preparing the more serious prosecutions, by establishing co-located Criminal Justice Units and Trial Units for Crown Court work. In addition, the government proposes to implement the recommendation of Sir Robin Auld that the CPS should take over responsibility from the police for determining the charge from the outset of the case, which the CPS and police are currently piloting. These structural changes are enabling more early legal advice before charge, and more focus on casework preparation in more serious cases to ensure that prosecutions are built on secure ground.
	By the end of March 2002, lawyers in 31 CPS Areas had been assigned to Crown Court work in 54 discrete Trial Units; and 42 co-located Criminal Justice Units had been established in 20 Areas. As at the end of June 2002 some 394 lawyers had qualified as Higher Courts Advocates, with the right to conduct cases in the Crown Court.
	To help facilitate this shift in gravity, by the end of June 2002 some 178 members of the CPS who are not lawyers had been approved to work as Designated Caseworkers, trained to review and present a defined range of the most straightforward cases in the Magistrates' Courts, freeing up lawyer time for more serious cases. In addition, also reflecting Sir Iain Glidewell's Report, the CPS now employs an Area Business Manager in each Area, and a growing number of Unit Business Managers in Areas with Trial Units, enabling lawyer managers, including Chief Crown Prosecutors, to delegate some of their administrative responsibilities and devote more of their time to casework. There remains a cadre of Special Casework lawyers, and the lawyers in the Casework Directorate continue to advise on and conduct cases ranging from terrorism to extradition, to serious fraud.
	More Crown Prosecutors are benefiting from greater exposure to Crown Court proceedings and their skills, experience and expertise in dealing with the more serious cases are being developed.

Crown Prosecution Service

Claire Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Solicitor-General what assessment she has carried out of (a) the quality and (b) the timeliness of production of the case files received from the police within each CPS region for (i) 2000–01 and (ii) 2001–02.

Harriet Harman: holding answer 12 June 2002
	The statistics on timeliness and quality of police files submitted to the CPS are published by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary each quarter. The data is broken down by the 43 police forces; a table of the data is attached to this answer.
	In 2000–01 the percentage of files received within the time guidelines ranged from 50–99 per cent.; and number which contained sufficient evidence to proceed or were fully satisfactory ranged from 74–98 per cent.
	In 2001–02 those same figures ranged from 47–100 per cent. and 33–98 per cent. respectively.
	These wide disparities are a matter of concern. The Joint Performance Monitoring process is currently under review to ensure the measuring systems are fair and accurate.
	
		Quality and timeliness of case files 2001–02
		
			  Timeliness and Quality Timeliness Quality 
			  Percentage of files within Pre-Trial Issues time limits and fully satisfactory or sufficient to proceed (per cent.) Percentage of files within Pre-Trial Issues time limits (per cent.) Percentage of files fully satisfactory or sufficient to proceed (per cent.) 
		
		
			 Avon and Somerset 65 71 90  
			 Bedfordshire 87 95 89  
			 Cambridgeshire 46 58 81  
			 Cheshire 80 87 92  
			 City of London 85 86 98  
			 Cleveland 77 87 87  
			 Cumbria 82 85 96  
			 Derbyshire 73 77 95  
			 Devon and Cornwall 54 61 85  
			 Dorset 54 70 75  
			 Durham n/a n/a n/a 
			 Dyfed-Powys 64 70 90  
			 Essex 62 67 85  
			 Gloucestershire 59 70 84  
			 Greater Manchester n/a n/a n/a 
			 Gwent 48 57 82  
			 Hampshire 68 70 96  
			 Hertfordshire 49 100 49  
			 Humberside 44 55 79  
			 Kent n/a n/a n/a 
			 Lancashire 61 66 92  
			 Leicestershire 92 96 96  
			 Lincolnshire 73 78 92  
			 Merseyside 50 71 71  
			 Metropolitan Police n/a n/a n/a 
			 Norfolk 64 69 93  
			 Northamptonshire 85 86 97  
			 Northumbria 86 100 86  
			 North Wales 65 69 93  
			 North Yorkshire 75 86 87  
			 Nottinghamshire 73 77 93  
			 South Wales 84 90 90  
			 South Yorkshire 58 62 94  
			 Staffordshire 64 71 89  
			 Suffolk 81 90 90  
			 Surrey 57 63 89  
			 Sussex 76 92 82  
			 Thames Valley n/a n/a n/a 
			 Warwickshire 91 99 92  
			 West Mercia 43 47 89  
			 West Midlands 49 63 78  
			 West Yorkshire 33 100 33  
			 Wiltshire 60 67 87  
		
	
	Source:
	HMIC

Crown Prosecution Service

David Laws: To ask the Solicitor-General what her estimate is of the proportion of CPS cases resulting in a non-jury acquittal in the Crown Court which are attributable to failures in the review process in each year since 1997; and if she will make a statement.

Harriet Harman: holding answer 11 July 2002
	In 1999 the Crown Prosecution Service introduced an adverse outcomes analysis system. This provides CPS Areas with a consistent framework within which responsibility may be allocated for the failure of cases through a process of self-assessment, including an indication of the number of non-jury acquittals attributable to failings in the CPS review. The following table shows these outcomes as a proportion of all cases completed in the Crown Court during the three years for which figures are available:
	
		Year ending March:
		
			  
		
		
			 2000 0.7  
			 2001 0.6  
			 2002 0.5  
		
	
	These figures suggest that failings in the CPS review account for a small and diminishing proportion of non-jury acquittals.
	However, the findings in the HMCPSI Annual Report for 2001–02 suggest that the level of foreseeable adverse outcomes is higher. Figures published in the Report show that 33.57 per cent. of adverse outcomes were foreseeable, and that 19.02 per cent. should have been the subject of some remedial action or dropping the case sooner. These figures relate to a different reporting period, smaller sample and by reference to a different test than those gathered by the CPS. The disparity is greatly exaggerated in presentation by the fact that CPS use a percentage of their total caseload, while the HMCPSI look at only a sample and calculate as a proportion of the adverse cases. Nonetheless, this disparity is a cause for concern.
	The Service is conscious that its self-assessment procedures require the support of more sensitive information. The CPS and the police have begun to develop a joint case outcomes analysis which will build on existing procedures and will focus on avoidable case failures. Under this system it is intended that the reasons for non-jury acquittals will be jointly analysed to identify trends and individual and more general training needs, as part of a wider strategy for the identification of good practice. The process will be supported by more sophisticated management information generated through the forthcoming Compass Case Management system, which is scheduled to be rolled out across all CPS Areas between April and December 2003.

Crown Prosecution Service

David Laws: To ask the Solicitor-General what estimate she has made of the proportion of Crown Prosecution Service cases dismissed on a submission of no case to answer which are attributable to failures in the review process in each year since 1997; and if she will make a statement.

Harriet Harman: holding answer 11 July 2002
	The analysis of adverse outcomes, described in my response to the hon. Member's related question on non-jury acquittals (UIN 69215), includes an assessment of the number of dismissals no case to answer attributable to failings in the CPS review. The following table shows these outcomes as a proportion of all cases completed in the magistrates' courts during the three years for which figures are available:
	
		Year ending March:
		
			  
		
		
			 2000 0.010 per cent. 
			 2001 0.008 per cent. 
			 2002 0.011 per cent. 
		
	
	As the above figures show, dismissals for no case to answer attributable to failings in the review process form only a very small part of the overall caseload of the Service. However, there was a small increase in the level of these outcomes during 2001–2002, from 0.008 per cent. of the overall caseload, or 8 per 100,000, to 0.011 per cent., or 11 per 100,000. While this trend is not considered significant, it does show that there is no room for complacency. The arrangements for improved information on case outcomes described in my response to the Hon Member's related question will provide CPS managers, at a local and national level, with a better analysis of the reasons for case failures, and will strengthen their ability to identify and resolve any areas of concern.

Crown Prosecution Service

Roy Beggs: To ask the Solicitor-General what recent assessment has been made of the adequacy of the resources available to the Crown Prosecution Service; and what steps are being taken to increase Crown Prosecution Service efficiency and its ability to proceed with cases for trial.

Harriet Harman: holding answer 24 July 2002
	An assessment of the adequacy of the resources available to the Crown Prosecution Service was made for the purposes of the 2002 Spending Review, the outcome of which was announced on 15 July. The White Paper, Justice For All, set out a far-reaching program of change for the criminal justice system and for the Crown Prosecution Service. This programme will improve CPS efficiency and ability to proceed with cases for trial including: closer working with the police and increasing the number of Criminal Justice Units collocated with the police and the number of Trial Units as envisaged in the Glidewell report on the CPS; providing earlier and better advice to the police on charging and giving the CPS the responsibility to determine the charge in all but the most routine cases. Early indications from 6 pilot Areas show that giving the CPS the responsibility to determine the charge will lead to significant improvements in performance; changes to trial procedures to improve efficiency and effectiveness; and the development of the CPS's IT system, Compass, which is an essential part of a more joined up approach to information technology across the criminal justice system.

Crown Prosecution Service

Claire Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Solicitor-General as a percentage of staff employed within each CPS area and region, how many are crown prosecutors; and how many crown prosecutors within each region secured accreditation as higher court advocates in (a) 1999–2000, (b) 2000–01, and (c) 2001–02.

Harriet Harman: holding answer 12 June 2002
	Copies of Tables 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 have been placed in the Library. The percentage of Crown Prosecutors employed in each Area and Region is set out in Tables 1, 2, 3 and 4. The number of lawyers who have gained accreditation from 1 April 1999 until 31 March 2002 is set out in Table 5. The number of higher court advocates in each area is set out in Table 6.

Director of Public Prosecutions

Keith Vaz: To ask the Solicitor-General when she last met the DPP; and if she will make a statement.

Harriet Harman: holding answer 10 June 2002
	I regularly meet the Director of Public Prosecutions in the course of my official duties both formally and informally. Departmental meetings with the DPP take place approximately once every three weeks, and further meetings occur to discuss particular issues as they arise. My last meeting with the Director was on 19th July.

Public Engagements

Keith Vaz: To ask the Solicitor-General how many public engagements she has undertaken since 7 June.

Harriet Harman: holding answer 10 June 2002
	Since 7 June 2001 my public engagements have consisted of: (1) 9 sessions of oral parliamentary questions (2) 9 visits to regional CPS offices (3) 6 visits to the legal departments of other government departments in connection with the Law Officers role as superintenders of the Government Legal Service (4) 13 visits to courts, police stations, prisons and CPS offices, in connection with my role as the chair of the committee on the Criminal Justice System in London. (5) 10 official launches or openings (6) 28 speeches (7) hosting 6 receptions (8) 10 formal dinners (9) 3 Auld report consultation events (10) 2 visits in connection with my role as street crime sponsor minister.

Departmental Waste

Sue Doughty: To ask the Solicitor-General what proportion of waste produced in her Department was (a) recycled, (b) composted and (c) re-used, broken down into (i) paper, (ii) plastics, (iii) aluminium cans and (iv) other in each year since 1997; what plans there are to increase these proportions; and if she will make a statement.

Harriet Harman: holding answer 8 July 2002
	The detailed information requested is not available. However, all of the Departments for which the Attorney General is responsible make efforts to ensure that waste products are disposed of appropriately. In particular, paper and toner cartridges (which together represent a majority of the waste produced) are re-cycled by the Treasury Solicitor's Department, Crown Prosecution Service and the Attorney General's own Department, the Legal Secretariat to the Law Officers. The Treasury Solicitor's Department and Legal Secretariat to the Law Officers also re-cycle all used fluorescent tubes. As part of the Law Officers' Departments' contribution to Sustainable Development, we are continually reviewing the extent to which waste may be recycled.

Youth Justice

Henry Bellingham: To ask the Solicitor-General when she next expects to meet the CPS to discuss youth justice.

Harriet Harman: holding answer 4 July 2002
	My right hon. and learned Friend, the Attorney General, and I discuss youth justice at our regular meetings with the DPP and with local CPS staff on our visits to the CPS Areas. I discussed the issues with HM Chief Inspector, CPS Inspectorate on the eve of publication of the joint inspectorate report on the progress made in the reduction of delay in the youth justice system on 23 May 2002.

Serious Fraud Office

David Laws: To ask the Solicitor-General what her estimate is of the average length of time between transfer/committal and verdict for the Serious Fraud Office in each year since 1997–98; and if she will make a statement.

Harriet Harman: holding answer 11 July 2002
	The average time taken between committal or transfer and verdict each year since 1997–1998 is given below:
	
		
			  
		
		
			 1997–98 12.8 months 
			 1998–99 19.2 months 
			 1999–2000 20.2 months 
			 2000–01 15.5 months 
			 2001–02 20.0 months 
		
	
	The Serious Fraud Office works hard to reduce unduly long trials by securing, where possible, defence admissions of non-contentious evidence and by contributing towards the provision of real-time transcription services. In addition, the SFO regularly presents complex evidence in a graphical or electronic form, which improves clarity and saves time for the jury and court.

Serious Fraud Office

David Laws: To ask the Solicitor-General how many cases were handled by the Serious Fraud Office in each year since 1998–99; and if she will make a statement.

Harriet Harman: holding answer 11 July 2002
	The Serious Fraud Office worked on the investigation and prosecution of the following number of cases each year:
	
		
			  
		
		
			 1997–98 102 cases 
			 1998–99 94 cases 
			 1999–2000 95 cases 
			 2000–01 103 cases 
			 2001–02 92 cases 
		
	
	These figures exclude appeals pending and cases with outstanding confiscation matters.
	The Serious Fraud Office investigates and prosecutes some of the largest and most difficult cases in the UK often involving substantial sums of money exceeding £1 million. I refer my honourable friend to my answer to Dave Watts of 10 January 2002.

Serious Fraud Office

David Laws: To ask the Solicitor-General what the average time was from accepting a case to completing investigations for the Serious Fraud Office in each year since 1997–98.

Harriet Harman: holding answer 11 July 2002
	The average time taken between acceptance and committal or transfer to the Crown Court for a Serious Fraud Office case since 1997–98 is set out below:
	
		
			  
		
		
			 1997–98 24 months 
			 1998–99 34 months 
			 1999–2000 29 months 
			 2000–01 30 months 
			 2001–02 33 months

Manslaughter (Doctors)

William Hague: To ask the Solicitor-General how many prosecutions for manslaughter have been brought against doctors since 1974; and how many of them have been acquitted by the jury, and at what cost to public funds.

Harriet Harman: holding answer 24 July 2002
	It is extremely difficult to give precise figures. Before 1993, prosecutions were recorded by the name of the defendant and not by the defendant's occupation.
	In 1993 a new case-tracking system was introduced by the CPS which allowed prosecutions for manslaughter arising from gross medical negligence to be recorded. But these figures do not distinguish between doctors and other medical staff.
	Bearing in mind these caveats, the CPS has estimated that since 1994 twelve doctors have been prosecuted for "medical" manslaughter. Of those, eight were acquitted of all charges and four were convicted of at least one count on the indictment.
	There are no central records of the cost of prosecuting particular categories of case.
	The principles applied by Crown prosecutors when deciding whether the prosecution of a doctor, or of any other person, is justified are set out in the Code for Crown Prosecutors. The prosecutor must be satisfied that the evidence is sufficient to provide a realistic prospect of a conviction. If there is sufficient evidence the prosecutor goes on to consider whether a prosecution is needed in the public interest. Because manslaughter is such a serious offence, if the evidence is sufficient to justify proceedings a prosecution would normally follow. Cases involving allegations of "medical" manslaughter are considered by the Casework Directorate at CPS headquarters rather than by the CPS Area in which the death occurred.

Trial Outcomes

Christopher Chope: To ask the Solicitor-General how many trials there were in which an offender was brought to justice in each of the last five years.

Harriet Harman: I have been asked to reply 
	to this question using information recorded by the Crown Prosecution Service.
	The attached table shows the number and the proportion of defendants convicted in magistrates' courts and in the Crown Court in the year ending March 2002, and in each of the four preceding years.
	
		Convictions 1997–2002
		
			  1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 
		
		
			 Magistrates' courts  
			 Total convictions as per cent. of hearings 953,753 (98.1) 972,650 (98.3) 986,136 (98.3) 929,806 (98.3) 933,305 (98.3) 
			 Crown Court  
			 Total convictions as per cent. of hearings 87,273 (90.6) 70,935 (89.1) 66,960 (88.6) 62,419 (87.9) 62,824 (88.8)

Court Evidence

Andrew Turner: To ask the Solicitor-General what rules of (a) procedure and (b) evidence may prevent a prosecution witness giving evidence of (i) the appearances of a defendant whom that witness has seen at the scene of an alleged crime, (ii) the fact of a defendant being of no fixed abode and (iii) the whereabouts of objects at the scene of an alleged theft which are not the subject of a charge of theft.

Harriet Harman: holding answer 14 May 2002
	There are no specific rules of procedure or evidence affecting these categories.
	Whether a witness is permitted to give evidence on a particular issue depends on the relevance of their testimony to the charge before the court, and whether that evidence is admissible. There are many factors which might affect the admissibility of evidence, and each case would depend upon its precise facts.
	If the hon. Member has a particular case in mind I would be glad to attempt to provide a fuller answer.

Casework Review

Claire Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Solicitor-General when the thematic review of all aspects of casework having a minority ethnic dimension was published; and if this thematic review included the London area.

Harriet Harman: holding answer 10 June 2002
	HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate published the Report of its thematic review of CPS Casework Having a Minority Ethnic Dimension on 10 April 2002.
	Inspectors examined performance in sixteen CPS Areas, of which London was one.

Law Enforcement Agencies

Andrew Turner: To ask the Solicitor-General what statutory law enforcement agencies and prosecuting authorities there are within the responsibility of her Department; and what complaints procedure is available for each.

Harriet Harman: holding answer 16 May 2002
	The Law Officers Department is responsible for three prosecuting authorities: The Crown Prosecution Service, the Serious Fraud Office and the Prosecuting Arm of HM Customs and Excise.
	All complaints received by the CPS are dealt with in accordance with designated procedure set out in a complaints leaflet. This is also available on the Internet on the CPS website www.cps.gov.uk. There are three stages to the CPS complaints handling procedure. Complaints are initially directed to the Branch or Unit that dealt with the case in question. The Branch Crown Prosecutor or Unit Head will arrange for a response to be sent.
	If the complainant is dissatisfied with this response, or alleges impropriety by the CPS, the matter will be referred to the Chief Crown Prosecutor.
	Complaints which cannot be resolved by the Chief Crown Prosecutor are referred through the Customer Service Unit to the Director of Public Prosecutions or Chief Executive who will consider how the complaint should be handled and arrange for a response to be sent. Where possible, a full response should be sent to the complainant within three working days of receipt. If a full response is not possible, an acknowledgement should be sent within three days and a full response within 10 working days.
	The Serious Fraud Office complaints procedure is that minor complaints about members of staff are dealt with by Line Managers or their Assistant Directors.
	Formal written complaints addressed to the Director are dealt with either by her or passed or an Assistant Director for full investigation.
	Complaints about the professional conduct of legally qualified SFO staff may be made to the appropriate professional standards body such as the Bar Council or the Law Society.
	Customs and Excise complaints procedure is contained within their Code of Practice which is available on their website www.hmce.gov.uk.
	Where complaints cannot be resolved with the Customs Officer concerned, complainants are directed to the Regional Complaints Unit. That Unit will ask the appropriate local manager to investigate the complaint and the Unit will then respond normally within 10 working days.
	If the complainant is dissatisfied with that response, the complaint can be reconsidered by the Regional or Business Head.
	Where a complainant is not satisfied with the response by the Customs and Excise, the matter may be raised with the Adjudicator. The Adjudicator will give an independent view of the case and make a recommendation.

Advertising Campaigns

John Bercow: To ask the Solicitor-General how much was spent on press and advertising campaigns in 2001–02; and what the planned expenditure is for 2002–03.

Harriet Harman: holding answer 17 June 2002
	I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave him on 12 March 2002, Official Report, column 885W. There are no specific plans for expenditure in 2002–03.

Female Staff

John Bercow: To ask the Solicitor-General what percentage of the staff of her Department are women; and what the percentage was in June 1997.

Harriet Harman: holding answer 8 July 2002
	I refer the hon. Member to the reply given by my hon. Friend the Minister of State, Cabinet Office, on 5 July 2002, Official Report, column 622W.

Recyling

Sue Doughty: To ask the Solicitor-General what proportion of (a) paper and (b) other goods purchased by her Department was recycled paper in each year since 1997; what the annual total cost of these purchases was; what plans there are to increase these proportions; and if she will make a statement.

Harriet Harman: In relation to the Departments for which the Attorney General is responsible, the information available is as follows:
	The Crown Prosecution Service has a policy of purchasing recycled paper wherever possible. The paper provided under the Department's central contract for office use is 100 per cent. recycled—approximate cost £500,000. Of the products supplied under the central contract for supply of other paper-based products, in 2001–02 82 per cent. by volume (approximate cost £80,000) contained an element of recycled content (ranging from 35 per cent. to 100 per cent. pre- and post-consumer waste).
	The Department does not hold information on recycled paper usage back to 1997.
	The Treasury Solicitor's Department is able to reply only in general terms, as records have not been, and are not, kept in such a way as to provide this information.
	Since 2000, 100 per cent. of white paper purchased has been from recycled stock. The Agency budgeted £100,000 for paper in each of the last two financial years and although the spend on white paper cannot be separately identified, it does make up the bulk of the figure.
	Other recycled products bought are not on record, though contracts specify that suppliers should have regard to environmental factors when providing goods to the agency. There are at present no specific plans to increase the proportion of recycled goods procured but the Agency is always ready to consider means of "greening" its operations when it can do so in an efficient and cost-effective way.
	The Legal Secretariat to the Law Officers, is small and paper usage is comparatively low. Although recycled paper has been used in the past, purchases must be made on a best value for money basis. Until recently, the cost and quality of recycled paper did not provide this compared to virgin paper from sustainable resources. However, recycled paper appears to have improved in both quality and price and the Department has recently recommenced the purchase of recycled paper.
	The Serious Fraud Office does not currently purchase recycled paper but will consider the matter again in the light of improvements in price and quality.

EDUCATION AND SKILLS

GCSEs

Graham Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what proportion of pupils achieving five or more A*–C grades at GCSE in the last year for which figures are available included an intermediate GNVQ equivalent to four A*–C grade GCSEs in their qualifications.

Stephen Twigg: The proportion of pupils in all schools in England who achieved 5 or more A*–C grades at GCSE/GNVQ, whose results included an intermediate GNVQ was 0.5 per cent. in 2000–01. This represents 1,457 pupils in 85 schools.

Key Stage 2

Phil Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the percentage point gap is between the 2001 Key Stage 2 results separately and the statutory EDP targets for (a) English and (b) maths in 2004 in each local education authority.

Ivan Lewis: The information requested is shown below.
	Difference in percentage points between Local Education Authority 2004 statutory targets for the proportion of pupils gaining Level 4 and above in the KS2 English and maths tests and their performance in the 2001 tests
	
		
			 LEA English Maths 
		
		
			 City of London 4 11 
			 Camden 8 10 
			 Greenwich 15 18 
			 Hackney 17 19 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham 5 9 
			 Islington 16 15 
			 Kensington and Chelsea 5 6 
			 Lambeth 13 16 
			 Lewisham 11 18 
			 Southwark 18 19 
			 Tower Hamlets 10 13 
			 Wandsworth 9 16 
			 Westminster 6 8 
			 Barking and Dagenham 11 13 
			 Barnet 6 10 
			 Bexley 7 14 
			 Brent 10 13 
			 Bromley 9 12 
			 Croydon 10 15 
			 Ealing 7 11 
			 Enfield 12 15 
			 Haringey 14 16 
			 Harrow 7 11 
			 Havering 9 12 
			 Hillingdon 5 10 
			 Hounslow 10 13 
			 Kingston upon Thames 9 11 
			 Merton 11 18 
			 Newham 13 15 
			 Redbridge 9 13 
			 Richmond upon Thames 5 8 
			 Sutton 7 15 
			 Waltham Forest 12 18 
			 Birmingham 12 16 
			 Coventry 14 20 
			 Dudley 12 18 
			 Sandwell 18 19 
			 Solihull 9 10 
			 Walsall 15 19 
			 Wolverhampton 12 20 
			 Knowsley 13 16 
			 Liverpool 14 18 
			 St. Helens 10 12 
			 Sefton 7 11 
			 Wirral 9 15 
			 Bolton 8 13 
			 Bury 12 11 
			 Manchester 15 17 
			 Oldham 13 14 
			 Rochdale 11 14 
			 Salford 13 14 
			 Stockport 9 12 
			 Tameside 12 16 
			 Trafford 7 11 
			 Wigan 10 12 
			 Barnsley 17 20 
			 Doncaster 14 18 
			 Rotherham 12 15 
			 Sheffield 17 18 
			 Bradford 22 25 
			 Calderdale 12 14 
			 Kirklees 12 15 
			 Leeds 11 15 
			 Wakefield 12 14 
			 Gateshead 12 12 
			 Newcastle upon Tyne 18 18 
			 North Tyneside 13 17 
			 South Tyneside 13 13 
			 Sunderland 14 14 
			 Isles of Scilly 17 17 
			 Bath and North East Somerset 10 14 
			 Bristol, City of 17 18 
			 North Somerset 10 11 
			 South Gloucestershire 10 15 
			 Hartlepool 12 12 
			 Middlesbrough 11 16 
			 Redcar and Cleveland 10 13 
			 Stockton-on-Tees 12 14 
			 Kingston Upon Hull, City of 16 13 
			 East Riding of Yorkshire 10 15 
			 North East Lincolnshire 14 19 
			 North Lincolnshire 12 16 
			 North Yorkshire 9 13 
			 York 9 12 
			 Bedfordshire 9 18 
			 Luton 11 18 
			 Buckinghamshire 6 11 
			 Milton Keynes 16 18 
			 Derbyshire 12 16 
			 Derby 14 17 
			 Dorset 11 16 
			 Poole 13 21 
			 Bournemouth 14 14 
			 Durham 11 12 
			 Darlington 11 10 
			 East Sussex 13 17 
			 Brighton and Hove 11 18 
			 Hampshire 10 15 
			 Portsmouth 16 18 
			 Southampton 22 20 
			 Leicestershire 9 13 
			 Leicester 16 18 
			 Rutland 8 13 
			 Staffordshire 12 16 
			 Stoke-on-Trent 12 15 
			 Wiltshire 12 15 
			 Swindon 13 18 
			 Bracknell Forest 8 11 
			 Windsor and Maidenhead 10 15 
			 West Berkshire 9 11 
			 Reading 14 21 
			 Slough 13 14 
			 Wokingham 8 11 
			 Cambridgeshire 11 15 
			 Peterborough 11 15 
			 Cheshire 8 10 
			 Halton 8 15 
			 Warrington 6 11 
			 Devon 9 14 
			 Plymouth 11 13 
			 Torbay 10 15 
			 Essex 10 14 
			 Southend-on-Sea 12 11 
			 Thurrock 15 23 
			 Herefordshire 9 12 
			 Worcestershire 11 20 
			 Kent 12 16 
			 Medway 15 18 
			 Lancashire 9 13 
			 Blackburn with Darwen 13 18 
			 Blackpool 11 11 
			 Nottinghamshire 12 15 
			 Nottingham 18 20 
			 Shropshire 11 14 
			 Telford and Wrekin 14 20 
			 Cornwall* 9 13 
			 Cumbria 10 13 
			 Gloucestershire 10 13 
			 Hertfordshire 9 11 
			 Isle of Wight 14 19 
			 Lincolnshire 10 14 
			 Norfolk 12 17 
			 Northamptonshire 12 17 
			 Northumberland 11 18 
			 Oxfordshire 11 17 
			 Somerset 12 16 
			 Suffolk 10 18 
			 Surrey 7 11 
			 Warwickshire 11 13 
			 West Sussex 12 16 
			 England (LEA Maintained only) 12 15 
		
	
	*differences calculated using midpoints of agreed target ranges
	Source: final 2001 performance data files and LEA Education Development Plans (EDPs)
	Note:
	Percentages reflect EDP and target-setting definitions: all maintained schools except
	PRUs and Hospital schools. Underlying figures rounded to whole numbers.

Castle Award

Bill Tynan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if her Department has applied for a Castle award for equal pay.

Stephen Twigg: The Department has not applied for a Castle Award for equal pay but is currently reviewing its pay system as part the Governments' commitment following the Equal Pay Task Force Report.

Further Education

Martin Caton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment she has made of the extent to which the extra money that she provided for new pay arrangements in the further education sector has narrowed the pay gap between school teachers and further education lecturers.

Margaret Hodge: As independent organisations it is for further education (FE) colleges to agree the pay and the terms and conditions of their staff within the context of the overall resources available to them. We are aware of the differences between salaries in general further education colleges and schools and this issue is being considered as part of the current Spending Review.
	We are investing more than £311 million in the Teaching Pay Initiative (TPI) over the period 2001–04. TPI is separate to any general pay increase a lecturer may receive. It is designed to help modernise further education (FE) pay arrangements and to recruit, reward and retain lecturers as part of the drive to improve teaching and learning. Research on the first year of TPI implementation indicates that there is a significant move to teachers being better prepared for the task of teaching students; extra pay has been found to support the recruitment of teachers in skill shortage areas and to address casualisation; and there has been a direct positive impact on teacher morale.

Female Staff

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what percentage of the staff of her Department are women; and what the percentage was in June 1997.

Stephen Twigg: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given by my hon. Friend the Minister for State at the Cabinet Office on 5 July, Official Report, column 623W.

Special Educational Needs

Peter Lilley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much each local education authority spent last year on children with special educational needs; and how much of this was spent on special schools.

David Miliband: The information requested has been placed in the Libraries.

Special Educational Needs

Graham Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many Key Stage 1 classes in the maintained sector have more than 30 pupils as a result of a statement of special educational needs specifying that a child should attend a particular school.

Stephen Twigg: holding answer 19 July 2002
	The 2001 September Class Size Count Survey shows that there were 11 infant classes with 31 or more pupils as a result of a statement of special educational needs specifying that a child should attend a particular school.

Special Educational Needs

Tom Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many children of school age are attending specialist schools in the London Borough of Wandsworth.

David Miliband: As at January 2002, there were 6,469 pupils in specialist schools in the London Borough of Wandsworth, of which 5,304 were aged 11–15.

Absenteeism

Nick Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the average absentee rate was for schools in (a) 2000 and (b) 2001.

Stephen Twigg: The average absentee rate for schools in England was 6.8 per cent. in 2000 and 7.2 per cent. in 2001. These figures represent the percentage of half days missed due to both authorised and unauthorised absences in schools. These figures relate to absences in schools between September and May in each of the relevant years.

Departmental Report

Alan Beith: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the cost was of publishing her Department's annual report for each of the past five years.

Stephen Twigg: While the Department pays for some production costs of its annual report, these only cover the design and typesetting. The costs of printing are met directly by the publisher, The Stationery Office (TSO) and do not fall to the Department. The Department also buys in copies from the TSO to distribute internally and to our partners.
	The cost for the last two years are:
	
		The Department for Education and Employment 2001 Report
		
			  
		
		
			 Typesetting and design £33,813 
			 Buying in copies from TSO £18,600 
			 Total £52,413 
		
	
	
		The Department for Education and Skills 2002 Report
		
			  
		
		
			 Typesetting and design £42,346 
			 Buying in copies from TSO £16,773 
			 Total £59,119 
		
	
	Costs are not available for earlier years.

School Meals

Debra Shipley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what recent monitoring she has undertaken of the nutritional content of school meals.

Stephen Twigg: Local Education Authorities, or governing bodies with schools meals budgets delegated to them, must ensure that school lunches meet minimum nutritional standards.
	No recent monitoring has been undertaken, but my officials are taking advice from the Food Standards Agency about the best way evaluate the effectiveness of, and compliance with, our nutritional standards regulations.

Healthy Eating

Debra Shipley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what encouragement she provides to head teachers to ensure healthy eating patterns are developed in school canteens.

Stephen Twigg: In April 2001 the Government introduced regulations which set minimum nutritional standards for school lunches. They were accompanied by guidance entitled "Healthy School Lunches" which was available for school caterers, heads and others implementing the standards.
	The National Healthy School Standard, which was introduced in October 1999, is the mainstay of the Healthy Schools Programme and promotes healthy eating patterns. Guidance provided to local Healthy Schools Partnerships on criteria that can be used for assessing school achievements includes:
	the school should present consistent messages about healthy eating: food on offer in vending machines, tuck shops and school meals, for example should complement the information about healthy eating covered in the taught curriculum;
	the school should provide, promote and monitor healthier food at lunch and break times and in any breakfast clubs where they are provided;
	the school should include education on healthier eating and basic food safety practices in the taught curriculum.

Education Funding

Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what extra funding, in addition to the education standard spending assessment, has been provided (a) directly to schools and (b) to local authorities in England since 1999 in each local authority.

David Miliband: The tables below show the Department's total recurrent and capital funding, in addition to the education Standard Spending Assessment, for the financial years 1999–2000 to 2001–02 for each local education authority, broken down between funding that goes directly to maintained schools via LEAs, and funding for LEAs' central expenditure.
	Funding direct to schools via LEAs are comprised of the following grants:
	Standards Fund (devolved to schools)
	School Standards Grant
	School Budget Support Grant
	Education Budget Support Grant
	Capital Grants (Devolved Formula Capital)
	Grant Maintained Transitional Grant: Insurance
	Funding for LEAs are comprised of the following grants (for the benefit of schools)
	Standards Fund (LEA central expenditure)
	Nursery Education Grant
	Childcare Grant
	Education Maintenance Allowances
	Capital Grants (including formulaic funding to VA Schools allocated at LEA level)
	Grant Maintained Transitional Grant
	Funding for Education Action Zones (EAZs) is not included. This funding does not go directly to schools or to LEAs; it is paid to EAZs for use to run programmes to achieve pre-agreed targets and objectives in zone schools. EAZs are independent bodies which are exempt charities, set up in accordance with the Schools Standards and Framework Act 1998. In addition the Department provides special grant funding to fully meet the extra costs associated with teachers crossing the threshold (moving to the upper pay scale). Additional funding has provided a contribution to the costs of awarding performance points to those on the leadership scale and Advanced Skills Teachers. The Department is unable to provide a breakdown by LEA of this funding without incurring disproportionate cost and time. The national amount since 1999–2000 is £756 million.

Grammar Schools

Graham Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills, pursuant to her oral statement of 16 July 2002, if successful grammar schools will be eligible to take over failing schools under the proposed arrangements.

David Miliband: holding answer 19 July 2002
	In the document Education and Skills: Investment for Reform, which we published on the day of my right hon. Friend's statement to the House on 16 July, we made clear that we would be looking at a range of ways of encouraging federations and partnerships between weaker and more successful schools, including a successful school taking over a failing school. We shall provide more details on these proposals later in the year. There is no reason why successful grammar schools should not be involved in forms of federation and partnership consistent with their grammar school status, where that is appropriate to local needs and circumstances. But in doing this we will remain true to our principle of no extension of selection by ability.

Demountable Classrooms

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much additional funding is to be allocated to Essex County Council to replace demountable classrooms in the Colchester constituency with permanent accommodation.

Ivan Lewis: holding answer 19 July 2002
	We do not hold information in the form requested. Most capital support is allocated to Local Education Authorities and schools by needs related formulae. It is for Essex Local Education Authority (LEA) and its schools to decide how their capital allocations are invested, as part of the development of their local Asset Management Plan. To date, Essex LEA, and its schools, have already been allocated support for £107 million of capital works in total over 2002–03 and 2003–04.

Citizenship Curriculum

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if the Citizenship Curriculum will include (a) knowledge of the flags and patron saints of the countries of the United Kingdom and (b) teaching the words of the national anthem.

Stephen Twigg: holding answer 19 July 2002
	The flags, patron saints and the national anthem of the United Kingdom are not a separate element of the Citizenship National Curriculum. However, understanding the origins and implications of the diverse national, regional, religious and ethnic identities in the United Kingdom is an important part of Citizenship which becomes part of the statutory National Curriculum for 11–16 year olds in September 2002. In this context pupils will have the opportunity to explore the unique qualities that are part of the shared identities of the countries of the United Kingdom. They may also consider the political, religious, social and constitutional systems that affect their lives and communities.

Departmental Staff

Debra Shipley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many registered (a) town planners, (b) landscape designers, (c) chartered surveyors and (d) architects work in her Department.

Stephen Twigg: Within the Department for Education and Skills there are 5 registered chartered surveyors and 10 registered architects. Currently there are no town planners or landscape designers working in the Department.

Music Lessons

David Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills 
	(1)  what assessment has been made of access to free music lessons by school pupils from low-income families in North-West Leicestershire;
	(2)  what methods and procedures are in place to judge the success of the Music Standards Fund in increasing access to free music lessons for musicians in (a) North-West Leicestershire and (b) English schools;
	(3)  what assessment has been made of the take up of free music lessons by school pupils from low-income families in England.

Stephen Twigg: The Government's White Paper Schools: achieving success contained the pledge that over time, all primary school pupils who wanted to should have the opportunity to learn a musical instrument. The Music Standards Fund was introduced in 1999 to protect and expand LEA Music Services. Between 1999–2000 and 2003–04 total funding of £270 million has been made available to Music Services across England via the Music Standards Fund. LEAs may spend Music Standards Fund in any way which enhances the opportunities for pupils to access musical education of high quality. It is not intended to provide music lessons for musicians.
	There is no requirement for LEAs to inform the Department whether Music Standards Fund has been used to increase access to and take up of music lessons for pupils from low-income families. It is for LEAs and individual schools to decide whether to operate a charging policy for instrumental music lessons provided outside of the National Curriculum, and we do not currently hold data on this.

Public Consultations

Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what public consultations have been commenced by her Department since 1 April; and what the (a) closing date and (b) website address of each were.

Stephen Twigg: The information you have requested appears in the following table. The website address for my Department's consultations is www.dfes.gov.uk/consultations.
	
		
			 Title of Consultation Start Date End Date 
		
		
			 Proposals to introduce a mandatory requirement for first-time headteachers to hold the National Professional Qualification for Headship (NPQH) 22/04/2002 28/06/2002 
			 School Teachers' Review Body's report on teacher workload 08/05/2002 03/07/2002 
			 Electronic Communications in Education: an Order under the Electronic Communications Act 2000 08/05/2002 06/09/2002 
			 Performance Pay Progression: Reconsultation on Revised Special Grant Report 14/05/2002 13/06/2002 
			 Developing Early Intervention/Support Services for Deaf Children and their Families 28/05/2002 23/09/2002 
			 Together From The Start—Practical guidance for professionals working with disabled children (birth to 2) and their families 28/05/2002 23/09/2002 
			 Department for Education and Skills—Race Equality Scheme 31/05/2002 30/08/2002 
			 Supporting the cost of home-based childcare 07/06/2002 30/08/2002 
			 Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the Recognition of Professional Qualifications 01/07/2002 30/09/2002

School Sports

Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills whether she plans to make sport in schools part of the everyday curriculum.

Stephen Twigg: Physical Education (PE) remains a compulsory subject within the National Curriculum at all Key Stages. Our Public Service Agreement target, announced on 15 July, is that by 2006 we will have enhanced the take-up of PE and sporting opportunities by 5 to 16 year olds by increasing the percentage of pupils in schools who spend a minimum of two hours each week on high quality PE and school sport within and beyond the curriculum to 75 per cent.
	It is for individual schools and their governing bodies to decide how they utilise their timetable to cover the National Curriculum and there is no reason why schools cannot choose to provide PE and sport every day, if this best meets the learning needs of the pupils.

Capital Investment (Schools)

Debra Shipley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the level of capital investment is for 2003–04 to 2005–06 following the comprehensive spending review for (a) new or substantially refurbished primary schools, (b) new or substantially refurbished secondary schools, (c) further education and (d) higher education.

David Miliband: Capital investment in education and skills will rise from £1 billion a year in 1997–98 to £7 billion a year by 2005–06, of which £1.2 billion will be through the private finance initiative. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State will announce her decisions about how that capital is to be used later in the year when she has considered priorities in the round.

SEN Children

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what plans her Department has to introduce a star rating system to award (a) local education authorities, (b) schools and (c) colleges who are putting into practice good systems to support inclusion of SEN children; what plans her Department has to name (i) local education authorities, (ii) schools and (iii) colleges who are failing or rejecting SEN children and adults; and if she will make a statement.

Stephen Twigg: My right hon. Friend has no such plans. However, her Department does take a close interest in local education authority, school and college systems to support inclusion, particularly through OFSTED inspection and post-inspection action planning. The Department is also considering how effective practice on inclusion might best be reflected in performance indicators used in the Comprehensive Performance Assessment of local authorities.

Special Advisers

Andrew Tyrie: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the (a) dates, (b) location and (c) sources were of attributable (i) articles, interviews or contributions for the media, books or other journals and (ii) speeches or presentations made in the public domain, by departmental special advisers since March 2001; who in her Department authorised the activity; and on what date this activity was recorded with the departmental Head of Information.

Ivan Lewis: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister on 24 July.

St. Thomas's Hospital

Kate Hoey: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she has been consulted about the proposal by King's College London to sell the land known as Block 9 at St. Thomas's Hospital.

Margaret Hodge: Like all universities, King's College London is an independent, autonomous institution. There is no requirement on them to consult with the Secretary of State for Education and Skills before disposing of an asset, and they have not done so.

Education (St. Helens)

Shaun Woodward: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many (a) fixed-term exclusions and (b) permanent exclusions there were from (a) primary schools, (b) secondary schools and (c) special schools in (i) St. Helens Metropolitan Borough Council area, (ii) Merseyside, (iii) the North West and (iv) England in (A) 1996, (B) 1997, (C) 1998, (D) 1999, (E) 2000 and (F) 2001.

Stephen Twigg: holding answer 23 July 2002
	The information requested on permanent exclusions is shown in the tables below. Subnational figures for 2001 are not yet available.
	Whilst information on fixed term exclusions has been collected for the first time this year on a trial basis, the data is not sufficiently complete for publication. A more regular collection is being considered.
	
		Number of Permanent Exclusions in Maintained Primary Schools (1) Academic years 1995–1996 to 1999–2000
		
			  1995–1996 1996–1997 1997–1998 1998–1999 1999–2000 2000–2001  
			  Number of permanent exclusions Percentage of the school population Number of permanent exclusions Percentage of the school population Number of permanent exclusions Percentage of the school population Number of permanent exclusions Percentage of the school population Number of permanent exclusions Percentage of the school population Number of permanent exclusions Percentage of the school population 
		
		
			 St. Helens LEA 3 0.02 1 0.01 3 0.02 2 0.01 2 0.01 .. .. 
			 Merseyside Region 41 0.03 46 0.03 58 0.04 . . . . . . 
			 North West Region 225 0.04 188 0.03 207 0.04 225 0.03 194 0.03 .. .. 
			 England 1,608 0.04 1,573 0.04 1,539 0.03 1,366 0.03 1,226 0.03 1,460 0.03 
		
	
	(1) Includes middle schools as deemed
	. Not applicable (Merseyside region incorporated within North West region)
	.. Not available
	Source:
	Annual Schools' Census
	
		Number of Permanent Exclusions in Maintained Secondary Schools (1) Academic years 1995–1996 to 1999–2000
		
			  1995–1996 1996–1997 1997–1998 1998–1999 1999–2000 2000–2001 
			  Number of permanent exclusions Percentage of the school population Number of permanent exclusions Percentage of the school population Number of permanent exclusions Percentage of the school population Number of permanent exclusions Percentage of the school population Number of permanent exclusions Percentage of the school population Number of permanent exclusions Percentage of the school population 
		
		
			 St. Helens LEA 36 0.31 36 0.30 35 0.29 24 0.20 24 0.20 .. .. 
			 Merseyside Region 344 0.36 381 0.40 348 0.36 . . . . . . 
			 North West Region 1,243 0.37 1,268 0.37 1,182 0.34 1,324 0.29 1,072 0.24 .. .. 
			 England 10,344 0.34 10,463 0.34 10,187 0.33 8,636 0.28 6,713 0.21 7,410 0.23 
		
	
	(1) Includes middle schools as deemed
	. Not applicable (Merseyside region incorporated within North West region)
	.. Not available
	Source:
	Annual Schools' Census
	
		Number of Permanent Exclusions in Special Schools(1) Academic years 1995–1996 to 1999–2000
		
			  1995–1996 1996–1997 1997–1998 1998–1999 1999–2000 2000–2001 
			  Number of permanent exclusions Percentage of the school population Number of permanent exclusions Percentage of the school population Number of permanent exclusions Percentage of the school population Number of permanent exclusions Percentage of the school population Number of permanent exclusions Percentage of the school population Number of permanent exclusions Percentage of the school population 
		
		
			 St. Helens LEA 1 0.21 0 0.00 0 0.00 1 0.21 2 0.43 .. .. 
			 Merseyside Region 16 0.38 33 0.76 26 0.62 . . . . . . 
			 North West Region 62 0.54 77 0.66 68 0.59 66 0.42 48 0.31 .. .. 
			 England 524 0.54 632 0.64 572 0.57 436 0.45 384 0.40 340 0.36 
		
	
	(1) Includes maintained and non-maintained special schools
	. Not applicable (Merseyside region incorporated within North West region)
	.. Not available
	Source:
	Annual Schools' Census
	
		Total Number of Permanent Exclusions in Primary, Secondary and Special Schools(1) Academic years 1995–96 to 1999–2000
		
			  1995–1996 1996–1997 1997–1998 1998–1999 1999–2000 2000–2001 
			  Number of permanent exclusions Percentage of the school population Number of permanent exclusions Percentage of the school population Number of permanent exclusions Percentage of the school population Number of permanent exclusions Percentage of the school population Number of permanent exclusions Percentage of the school population Number of permanent exclusions Percentage of the school population 
		
		
			 St. Helens LEA 40 0.13 37 0.12 38 0.13 27 0.09 28 0.09 .. .. 
			 Merseyside Region 401 0.16 460 0.19 432 0.17 . . . . . . 
			 North West Region 1,530 0.17 1,533 0.17 1,457 0.16 1,615 0.14 1,314 0.12 .. .. 
			 England 12,476 0.17 12,668 0.17 12,298 0.16 10,438 0.14 8,323 0.11 9,210 0.12 
		
	
	(1) Includes maintained primary and secondary schools and maintained and non-maintained special schools
	. Not applicable (Merseyside region incorporated within North West region)
	.. Not available
	Source:
	Annual Schools' Census

Education (St. Helens)

Shaun Woodward: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills 
	(1)  how many students started (a) higher education courses and (b) further education courses in (i) Merseyside, (ii) the North West and (iii) England in each year since 1996;
	(2)  how many students obtained certificates for completing (a) higher education courses and (b) further education courses in (i) Merseyside, (ii) the North West and (iii) England in each year since 1996.

Margaret Hodge: holding answer 23 July 2002
	The available information is shown in the tables.
	
		Students Entering Further and Higher Education Courses
		
			  Merseyside  North West  England  
			  HE 2  FE 2  HE 1  FE 2  HE 1  FE 2  
		
		
			 1996–97 n.a. n.a. 73,300 753,700 729,400 5,654,900 
			 1997–98 19,100 123,600 76,800 793,500 746,500 5,878,600 
			 1998–99 20,300 132,400 73,100 799,200 732,300 5,503,100 
			 1999–2000 20,800 166,000 79,900 898,500 756,200 6,019,600 
			 2000–01 22,000 201,100 75,600 974,000 761,600 6,829,200 
			 2001–02 3 21,200 n.a. 79,800 n.a. 780,900 n.a. 
		
	
	n.a. = not available. Figures have been rounded to the nearest hundred.
	1. Based on a census count of students as at December 1 for students in HE institutions. Covers all home and overseas students on postgraduate and undergraduate courses, including HE students in FE colleges and the Open University.
	2. Based on a whole year count of students in FE sector colleges. Includes FE students in HE institutions.
	3. HE figures contain an estimate for HE students in FE colleges. Final FE figures not yet available: the whole year count of students in FE sector colleges is collected retrospectively at the end of the academic year.
	
		Students Obtaining Further and Higher Education Qualifications 1 
		
			  Merseyside  North West  England  
			  HE 2  FE HE 2  FE HE 2  FE 
		
		
			 1996–97 n.a. n.a. 41,900 397,200 411,600 2,956,000 
			 1997–98 12,000 68,700 40,700 434,100 418,200 3,163,000 
			 1998–99 11,100 71,600 42,200 429,300 421,000 2,927,700 
			 1999–2000 12,100 94,600 45,900 516,700 435,100 3,441,700 
			 2000–01 12,700 120,300 45,400 585,700 439,700 3,993,400 
			 2001–02 3 n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. 
		
	
	n.a. = not available. Figures have been rounded to the nearest hundred.
	1. The figures cover students who obtained qualifications at any point in the academic year.
	2. Includes postgraduate and undergraduate qualifications. The qualifications awarded to students in any one year result from courses of different lengths including part-time and Open University courses which last more than three years, as well as short full-time HE courses which last for less than that period.
	3. Comparable figures for 2001–02 will be available in early 2003.

Education (St. Helens)

Shaun Woodward: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the (a) administrative support staff to pupil ratio and (b) classroom assistance to pupil ratio was in (i) primary schools and (ii) secondary schools in (A) St Helens, (B) Merseyside, (C) the North West and (D) England in (1) 1996, (2) 1997, (3) 1998, (4) 1999, (5) 2000 and (6) 2001.

David Miliband: holding answer 23 July 2002
	The available information is shown in the table.
	
		Maintained Primary and Secondary Schools: Pupil: Teacher Ratios, Pupil: Adult Ratios Pupil: Teaching Assistant Ratios and Pupil: -- Administrative Staff RatiosMaintained Primary Schools (1)Position in January each year
		
			 Pupil:teacher ratio (2) Pupil:adult ratio (3)(4) 
			  1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 
		
		
			 England 23.2 23.4 23.7 23.5 23.3 22.9 18.0 17.9 17.8 17.5 16.8 15.7 
			 North West (7) 23.7 23.9 24.0 23.9 23.4 22.9 19.3 19.1 18.9 18.6 17.7 16.2 
			 Merseyside (8) 23.3 23.4 23.7 23.4 23.0 22.5 19.2 19.1 19.1 18.5 17.6 15.8 
			 St. Helens LEA 22.9 23.3 23.2 23.6 23.2 22.9 18.1 18.0 17.9 17.8 17.1 15.8 
		
	
	
		
			 Pupil:teaching assistant ratio (5) Pupil:administrative staff ratio (6) 
		
		
			  1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 
			 England 113.4 107.4 100.6 96.8 83.7 67.3 226.6 222.3 219.8 215.2 202.0 191.0 
			 North West (7) 120.8 113.3 105.9 101.7 90.1 68.2 289.1 280.3 273.3 266.3 247.8 231.6 
			 Merseyside (8) 139.1 133.8 125.5 115.0 101.7 70.2 264.4 258.1 255.4 245.6 233.7 214.6 
			 St. Helens LEA 97.7 95.5 89.8 85.4 77.8 61.0 337.1 313.4 302.6 290.4 249.5 247.1 
		
	
	
		Maintained Secondary Schools (1)
		
			 Pupil:teacher ratio (2) Pupil:adult ratio (3)(4) 
		
		
			  1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 
			 England 16.6 16.7 16.9 17.0 17.2 17.1 14.6 14.5 14.6 14.5 14.5 14.0 
			 North West (7) 16.6 16.6 16.7 16.8 16.8 16.6 15.0 14.9 14.9 14.8 14.7 14.1 
			 Merseyside (8) 16.2 16.3 16.5 16.5 16.6 16.2 14.6 14.6 14.7 14.6 14.4 13.6 
			 St. Helens LEA 15.6 15.6 16.0 15.9 16.1 16.1 14.3 14.4 14.3 14.2 14.4 13.7 
		
	
	
		
			 Pupil:teaching assistant ratio (5) Pupil:administrative staff ratio (6) 
			  1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 
		
		
			 England 467.9 388.9 342.4 294.8 255.5 209.0 176.4 172.9 169.9 167.1 163.8 152.6 
			 North West (7) 870.6 698.1 596.0 474.1 378.6 280.3 187.3 184.7 182.2 181.4 175.1 160.4 
			 Merseyside (8) 1295.7 977.0 770.1 611.5 451.0 287.2 189.9 191.7 187.5 185.8 176.6 157.9 
			 St. Helens LEA 1974.7 1410.1 1106.7 693.2 538.7 305.3 185.0 169.7 182.3 181.0 173.7 166.8 
		
	
	(1) Includes middle schools as deemed. (2) The pupil:teacher ratio is calculated by dividing the total number of full-time equivalent pupils on roll in schools by the total number of full-time equivalent qualified teachers employed in schools. (3) The pupil:adult ratio is calculated by dividing the total number of full-time equivalent pupils on roll in schools by the total number of full-time equivalent qualified teachers and education support staff employed in schools (4) Education support staff includes instructors and student teachers, foreign language assistants, unqualified teachers, graduate or registered teachers, teachers entitled to qualify by service, teachers not recognised as qualified and all non-teaching staff excluding administrative and clerical staff. (5) The pupil:teaching assistant ratio is calculated by dividing the total number of full-time equivalent pupils on roll in schools by the total number of full-time equivalent teaching assistants employed in schools. (6) The pupil:administrative staff ratio is calculated by dividing the total number of full-time equivalent pupils on roll in schools by the total number of full-time equivalent administrative staff employed in schools. (7) North West Government Office Region incorporates Merseyside Metropolitan County (8) Merseyside comprises Knowsley, Liverpool, St. Helens, Sefton and Wirral LEAs.
	Source: Annual Schools Census

Education (St. Helens)

Shaun Woodward: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the truancy rates were in (a) St Helens, (b) Merseyside, (c) the North West and (d) England in (i) primary schools and (ii) secondary schools in (A) 1996, (B) 1997, (C) 1998, (D) 1999, (E) 2000 and (F) 2001.

David Miliband: holding answer 23 July 2002
	The percentage of half days missed due to unauthorised absence are as follows:—
	
		
			  St Helens Merseyside North West England 
		
		
			 (i) Primary schools 
			 1995–96 0.2 0.5 0.5 0.5 
			 1996–97 0.2 0.4 0.5 0.5 
			 1997–98 0.2 0.5 0.5 0.5 
			 1998–99 0.2 0.5 0.5 0.5 
			 1999–2000 0.2 0.4 0.4 0.5 
			 2000–01 0.3 0.5 0.4 0.5 
			 (ii) Secondary schools 
			 1995–96 0.5 1.3 1.2 1.0 
			 1996–97 0.4 1.2 1.1 1.0 
			 1997–98 0.5 1.4 1.2 1.1 
			 1998–99 0.6 1.2 1.1 1.0 
			 1999–2000 1.0 1.2 1.1 1.0 
			 2000–01 0.9 1.3 1.1 1.1

Education (St. Helens)

Shaun Woodward: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the pupil/teacher ratio was in (a) nursery schools, (b) primary schools and (c) secondary schools in (i) St Helens, (ii) Merseyside, (iii) the North West and (iv) England in each year since 1996.

David Miliband: holding answer 23 July 2002
	The information requested is shown in the following table.
	
		Maintained Nursery, Primary (1) and Secondary (1) Schools: Pupil: Teacher Ratios (2) Position in January each year
		
			 EnglandNorth West (3)Merseyside (4)St. Helens 
			  Maintained Nursery Maintained Primary Maintained Secondary Maintained Nursery Maintained Primary Maintained Secondary Maintained Nursery Maintained Primary Maintained Secondary Maintained Nursery Maintained Primary Maintained Secondary 
		
		
			 1996 19.2 23.2 16.6 20.0 23.7 16.6 17.8 23.3 16.2 20.6 22.9 15.6 
			 1997 18.9 23.4 16.7 19.6 23.9 16.6 18.0 23.4 16.3 20.5 23.3 15.6 
			 1998 18.6 23.7 16.9 19.3 24.0 16.7 17.2 23.7 16.5 21.3 23.2 16.0 
			 1999 18.4 23.5 17.0 19.0 23.9 16.8 17.4 23.4 16.5 21.6 23.6 15.9 
			 2000 18.1 23.3 17.2 18.7 23.4 16.8 16.4 23.0 16.6 22.0 23.2 16.1 
			 2001 17.7 22.9 17.1 18.1 22.9 16.6 14.7 22.5 16.2 19.4 22.9 16.1 
		
	
	(1) Includes middle schools as deemed.
	(2) The pupil:teacher ratio is calculated by dividing the total number of full-time equivalent pupils on roll in schools by the total number of full-time equivalent qualified teachers employed in schools.
	(3) North West Government Office Region incorporates Merseyside Metropolitan County.
	(4) Merseyside comprises Knowsley, Liverpool, St. Helens, Sefton and Wirral Local Education Authorities.
	Source: Annual Schools Census

University Top-up Fees

Anne Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what recent representations she has received about university top-up fees.

Margaret Hodge: My right hon. Friend receives representations from a wide variety of sources on a range of issues including top up fees. Most recently this has included the Education and Skills Select Committee's sixth report of the 2001–02 session which recommends the Government should seriously consider differentiated fees for university students.

Physical Education

John Greenway: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will make a statement on the research used to provide the figures for the new joint Public Service Agreement with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and her Department to raise the percentage of schoolchildren who spent a minimum of two hours each week on high quality physical education and school sports to 75 per cent.

Stephen Twigg: holding answer 23 July 2002
	Evidence from the Youth Sport Trust, Sport England and the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority suggests that most pupils in schools operating as part of a School Sport Co-ordinator Partnership enjoy two hours of high quality PE and school sport a week within and outside the curriculum.

Students (Taunton)

Adrian Flook: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what percentage of full-time students stayed in education in the Taunton constituency after the age of (a) 16 and (b) 18 years in (i) 1997 and (ii) 2001; and if she will make a statement.

Stephen Twigg: Data on the percentage of students staying on in full-time education is not calculated for areas smaller than LEAs as reliable estimates cannot be made. Participation rates at sub-national level are only available for 16 and 17 year olds.
	The percentage of 16 and 17 year olds in full-time education in Somerset LEA, which includes the constituency of Taunton, in 1997–1998 and 1999–2000, the latest year for which figures are available, is set out below:
	
		16 and 17 year olds in full-time education: Somerset LEA
		
			 Age 1997–1998 1999–2000 
		
		
			 16 71 74 
			 17 63 63 
		
	
	Participation rates by LEA are published in an annual statistical bulletin, "Participation in Education and Training by Young People Aged 16 and 17 in Each Local Area and Region, England".

Exam Preparation

Phil Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the recommended amount of preparation time is for year 5 pupils taking SATs exams.

David Miliband: holding answer 24 July 2002
	There are no statutory National Curriculum tests for pupils in Year 5. Neither is there any recommended preparation time for any National Curriculum test. It is for Headteachers to decide how to prepare their pupils for the tests. The QCA advises schools to prepare children for the tests by providing them with the opportunity to familiarise themselves with the layout and design of test papers, encouraging them to work independently and be aware that there may be questions in the tests that they will not be able to answer.

Exam Preparation

Phil Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many hours (a) AS level, (b) A level and (c) GCSE students spend on average in (i) exams and (ii) mock exams.

David Miliband: holding answer 24 July 2002
	Students taking typical 4 AS subject programmes spend about 12 hours in examinations, not counting resits. The equivalent figure for students completing the second half of the new A levels in 3 subjects is 9 hours. GCSE students spent an average of 17 hours in examinations. These figures mask large variations in individual student programmes.
	No statistics are available for the number of hours spent in mock examinations for any of these qualifications.

Exam Preparation

Phil Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the recommended amount of preparation time is for Key Stage (a) 1, (b) 2 and (c) 3 SATs exams.

David Miliband: holding reply 24 July 2002
	There is no recommended preparation time for any National Curriculum test. It is for Headteachers to decide how to prepare their pupils for the tests. The QCA advises schools to prepare children for the tests by providing them with the opportunity to familiarise themselves with the layout and design of test papers, encouraging them to work independently and be aware that there may be questions in the tests that they will not be able to answer.

Exam Preparation

Phil Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much time (a) Key Stage 1 SATs exams, (b) Key Stage 2 SATs exams and (c) Key Stage 3 SATs exams take on average (i) per pupil and (ii) per school.

David Miliband: holding answer 24 July 2002
	Key Stage 2
	The National Curriculum tests at Key Stage 2 in English, mathematics and science are timetabled to take 5 hours and 15 minutes spread over a week.
	Key Stage 3
	The National Curriculum tests at Key Stage 3 in English, mathematics and science are timetabled to take 7 hours and 20 minutes spread over a week.
	All children in the school will usually take the tests at the same time.
	Key Stage 1
	The Key Stage 1 tasks and tests are not timed. It is the responsibility of teachers to decide both the timing of the assessments and whether to administer the tests and tasks to whole classes, smaller groups of pupils or on an individual basis.

Science And Discovery Centres

Doug Naysmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what plans she has to assist the funding of science and discovery centres; and if she will make a statement.

Stephen Twigg: holding answer 24 July 2002
	The Government has currently no plans to assist the funding of science and discovery centres. On Monday, The Millennium Commission, together with the Wellcome Trust and the Wolfson Foundation, launched a £33 million fund for science centres and museums to allow them to renew or replace high quality science, education and technology exhibitions.

Free School Meals

Phil Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what percentage of children were in receipt of free school meals in each year from 1996–1997 to 2001–02 in (a) foundation, (b) voluntary-aided-community, (c) specialist, (d) city technology college, (e) grammar and (f) voluntary-controlled schools.

David Miliband: holding answer 1 July 2002
	The information requested is shown in the following table.
	
		Maintained Primary schools: percentage of children eligible for a free school meal England Position in January each year
		
			 Percentage   
			 Type of school (2) 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 (provisional) 
		
		
			 Foundation Schools(1) n/a n/a n/a 12.0 11.3 11.2 
			 Voluntary Aided Schools 18.5 17.3 16.3 15.3 14.4 13.9 
			 Specialist Schools (3) n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			 Voluntary Controlled Schools 13.6 12.5 11.9 11.3 10.7 10.3 
		
	
	
		Maintained Secondary schools: percentage of children eligible for a free school meal England Position in January each year
		
			 Percentage   
			 Type of school (2) 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 (provisional) 
		
		
			 Foundation Schools(1) n/a n/a n/a 10.9 10.4 9.9 
			 Voluntary Aided Schools 19.1 18.3 17.5 14.7 14.0 13.2 
			 Specialist Schools 14.1 13.5 14.1 13.8 14.0 13.7 
			 City Technology Colleges 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 
			 Grammar Schools 3.7 3.4 3.1 2.9 2.4 2.4 
			 Voluntary Controlled Schools 10.9 10.5 10.0 9.8 9.8 9.2 
		
	
	n/a Not applicable
	(1) Introduced in 2000
	(2) The school types listed are not mutually exclusive, for instance voluntary aided, voluntary controlled or foundation could be specialist schools
	(3) No schools of this type

Secondary Schools

Peter Pike: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many pupils were not allocated the secondary school of their first, second and third preference in the last three years; and if she will make a statement.

David Miliband: Information is not routinely collected on parental preference and their outcomes in the admissions process. A research project commissioned by the DfES entitled, "Parents' experiences of the process of choosing a secondary school" published in June 2001 revealed that (from a sample of 2,170 parents):
	85 per cent. of parents were offered a place in their favourite school (1)
	92 per cent. received an offer of a place in a first preference school (2)
	96 per cent. of parents were offered a place in a school for which they expressed a preference.
	91 per cent. of parents said they were satisfied with the outcome of the application processCopies of the report and research brief are available on the Departments website at: http://www.dfes.gov.uk/research/
	(1) Favourite school refers to the school identified by surveyed parents as the school that they most wanted their child to attend out of all the names of schools to which the parents applied to for a place.
	(2) First preference school refers to: (i) schools ranked first in the applications to Local Education Authority controlled schools in the parents' own Local Education Authority; (ii) schools which an application was made and which are their own admissions authorities, and (iii) applications to Local Education Authority controlled schools which an application is made, which are in a Local Education Authority other than the one in which the parent is resident.

Secondary Schools

Peter Pike: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many pupils who wanted co-educational secondary education were put in single sex schools in the last three years; and if she will make a statement.

David Miliband: The information requested is not available centrally.

Special Measures

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the average time spent in special measures by English (a) secondary and (b) primary schools has been in the last five years.

David Miliband: The average time spent by schools in special measures for the last 5 years has been 21 months for primary schools and 29 months for secondary schools.
	The Government is committed to ensuring that the number of schools placed in special measures continues to decline and that all schools in special measures should be turned around in two years or closed. Further options to ensure more rapid turnaround of schools were proposed in the White Paper Schools: Achieving Success in 2001 and new measures are included in the Education Act 2002 to enhance and widen the intervention powers of LEAs and my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State.

Special Measures

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the average change in annual revenue budget was for an English (a) secondary and (b) primary school placed in special measures over the last five years.

David Miliband: Funding support for schools placed in special measures is provided through a targeted element of the Standards Fund school improvement grant. LEAs receive direct funding support of £70,000 for each secondary school placed in special measures and £25,000 for each primary school to support schools with the implementation of their post-OFSTED action plan and to secure necessary improvements. The amount of additional support devolved to each school in special measures is a decision for the LEA.

Special Measures

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many English (a) secondary and (b) primary schools have been put into special measures in each of the last five years.

David Miliband: The number of schools placed in special measures for the each of the last five years is:
	
		
			  Secondary Primary 
		
		
			 1997–98 42 210 
			 1998–99 30 141 
			 1999–2000 38 168 
			 2000–01 23 100 
			 2001–02* 19 94 
		
	
	* Figures for this year may change, pending final corroborations.
	Over this period, a total of 912 schools have recovered from special measures. The number of schools in special measures rose from 326 at the beginning of 1997–98 to a peak of 515 at the end of that academic year. The total has now reduced to 273.

Ethnic Ratios (Schools)

Adrian Flook: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the ethnic ratio is for schools in the Taunton constituency; and if she will make a statement.

David Miliband: The available information is shown in the table below.
	
		Percentage of Pupils by Ethnic Group (1) in Maintained Primary and Maintained Secondary Schools As at January 2001
		
			   Percentage of Pupils 
			  Primary Secondary 
		
		
			 White 97.77 94.84 
			 Black Caribbean 0.04 0.03 
			 Black African 0.04 0.15 
			 Black Other 0.07 0.10 
			 Indian 0.06 0.02 
			 Pakistani 0.03 0.03 
			 Bangladeshi 0.04 0.10 
			 Chinese 0.10 0.15 
			 Other 0.73 3.01 
			 Unclassified 1.11 1.54 
			 Number of Pupils 6942 5838 
		
	
	(1) Pupils of compulsory school age and above were classified according to ethnic group.
	Source:
	Annual Schools' Census

Departmental Activities

Adrian Flook: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will list the activities pursued by her Department that have had a particular impact on Somerset since 7 June 2001.

David Miliband: Details of activities pursued by the Department since 7 June 2001 that have had an impact on Somerset have been placed in the Library.

Class Sizes

Ian Davidson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what recent evidence she has evaluated on the improvements in educational results to be realised through (a) marginal reductions in average class sizes and (b) alternative, more flexible uses of the same scale of resources within the educational system; and if she will make a statement.

David Miliband: It is too early to evaluate fully the impact of smaller class sizes policy on educational achievement. However, there is evidence, some of which pre-dates the smaller class size policy, that smaller class sizes have a beneficial effect on pupil progress, particularly in maths and literacy, in Reception children. I am exploring how schools might make better use of all their resources—teachers, support staff and ICT through the Transforming School Workforce pathfinder project. The Department has commissioned a pilot survey to examine the feasibility of collecting the detailed school resourcing information needed to evaluate the impact of resource mix on performance.

Class Sizes

Virginia Bottomley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the average class size is, ranked according to local education authority, at the latest date for which figures are available.

David Miliband: The information requested is shown in the table, copies of which have been placed in the Library.

Class Sizes

Tom Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills, how many children were excluded from school in each of the London borough education authorities as of 1 June. (65048)
	 Question number missing in Hansard, possibly truncated question.

Stephen Twigg: The available information on permanent exclusions for the latest year for which data are available is shown in the following table. Information on Fixed Term Exclusions is not available centrally.
	
		Number of Permanent Exclusions by Type of School, 1999–2000
		
			 Primary (1) Secondary (1) Special (2) Total  
			  Number of Permanent Exclusions Percentage of the school population (3) Number of Permanent Exclusions Percentage of the school population (3) Number of Permanent Exclusions Percentage of the school population (3) Number of Permanent Exclusions Percentage of the school population (3) 
		
		
			 LONDON 16 0.03 1066 0.27 56 0.45 1289 0.12 
			 Inner London 7 0.03 410 0.33 30 0.62 516 0.14 
			 Camden  0.02 16 0.15 4 1.33 22 0.10 
			 City of London  0.45 0 0 0 0 1 0.45 
			 Hackney  0.03 22 0.28 4 1.04 31 0.12 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham  0.04 17 0.25 0 0.00 21 0.12 
			 Haringey  0.03 18 0.16 1 0.25 25 0.07 
			 Islington  0.01 18 0.24 0 0.00 20 0.08 
			 Kensington and Chelsea  0.07 19 0.53 0 0.00 24 0.23 
			 Lambeth 1 0.06 16 0.22 4 0.62 31 0.11 
			 Lewisham 1 0.07 52 0.45 7 1.32 75 0.21 
			 Newham  0.03 25 0.15 0 0.00 33 0.07 
			 Southwark  0.03 58 0.59 3 0.66 69 0.20 
			 Tower Hamlets  0.00 30 0.22 0 0.00 31 0.09 
			 Wandsworth  0.03 82 0.84 7 0.94 94 0.33 
			 Westminster  0.02 37 0.46 0 0.00 39 0.22 
			 Outer London 9 0.02 656 0.24 26 0.34 773 0.11 
			 Barking and Dagenham  0.04 23 0.22 1 0.50 31 0.11 
			 Barnet  0.02 50 0.24 1 0.29 57 0.12 
			 Bexley  0.02 22 0.13 6 1.50 33 0.08 
			 Brent  0.04 47 0.33 1 0.24 57 0.15 
			 Bromley  0.01 24 0.12 1 0.22 28 0.06 
			 Croydon  0.02 76 0.45 4 0.73 87 0.18 
			 Ealing  0.01 24 0.16 0 0.00 27 0.06 
			 Enfield  0.01 68 0.34 1 0.19 73 0.15 
			 Greenwich  0.03 36 0.26 0 0.00 43 0.12 
			 Harrow  0.02 34 0.39 0 0.00 39 0.13 
			 Havering  0.00 33 0.21 0 0.00 34 0.09 
			 Hillingdon  0.02 39 0.24 4 0.61 47 0.12 
			 Hounslow  0.04 44 0.27 1 0.25 52 0.14 
			 Kingston upon Thames  0.01 15 0.18 0 0.00 16 0.08 
			 Merton  0.04 16 0.21 1 0.41 23 0.10 
			 Redbridge  0.02 23 0.12 2 0.44 29 0.07 
			 Richmond upon Thames  0.01 24 0.32 0 0.00 25 0.13 
			 Sutton  0.00 19 0.14 0 0.00 19 0.07 
			 Waltham Forest 1 0.05 39 0.30 3 0.43 53 0.15 
		
	
	(1) Includes middle schools as deemed
	(2) Includes Maintained and Non Maintained Special Schools
	(3) The number of permanent exclusions expressed as a percentage of the number (headcount) of full time and part-time pupils of all ages in Primary, Secondary and Special schools, excluding dually registered pupils in special schools in January 2000.
	Source:
	Annual Schools' Census

Class Sizes

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many children aged five, six, and seven were in infant classes of over 30 on (a) 1 May 1997, (b) 31 December 1998, (c) September 2001, (d) 31 December 2001 and (e) the latest date for which information is available; and if she will make a statement.

David Miliband: The available information collected from the Annual Schools Census in January of each year and from the September Class Size Count is shown in the table.
	
		Key Stage 1 Classes taught by one teacher in Maintained Primary Schools (1)(2) England
		
			 Number of pupils in classes of 31 or more in: 
			 Academic Year September (3)(4) January 
		
		
			 1996–1997  476,822 
			 1997–1998  485,311 
			 1998–1999 354,000 356,586 
			 1999–2000 171,000 176,962 
			 2000–2001 30,000 35,813 
			 2001–2002 8,000 10,398(p) 
		
	
	(1) Classes as taught during the one selected period in each school on the day of the census in January.
	(2) Key Stage 1 classes of 31 or more may contain pupils who have been admitted as permitted exceptions.
	(3) This figure includes estimates of pupils entering later in the Autumn term under staggered entry arrangements from schools which did not make a return.
	(4) Class sizes as measured in September are not directly comparable with those in January. As any differences in the figures will reflect seasonal effects such as pupils entering in January.Not available. The September Class Size Count took place for the first time in 1998.
	(p) Provisional
	Source:
	Annual Schools Census and September Class Size Count

School Absence

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the change has been in the number of (a) unauthorised absences and (b) exclusions in schools since 1998.

Stephen Twigg: The information requested is shown in the following table.
	
		Number of Exclusions (1) and Unauthorised Absences (2) In Schools in England
		
			  Total Exclusions Percentage of school population (3) Percentage of half days missed because of unauthorised absence (4) 
		
		
			 1997–98 12,298 0.16 0.7 
			 1998–99 10,438 0.14 0.7 
			 1999–2000 8,323 0.11 0.7 
			 2000–01 9,210(5) 0.12(5) 0.7 
		
	
	(1) Includes maintained primary and secondary and maintained and non-maintained special schools.
	(2) Includes maintained primary and secondary schools, maintained and non-maintained special schools, independent schools and city technology colleges.
	(3) The number of permanent exclusions expressed as a percentage of the total number (headcount) of full and part-time pupils of all ages (excluding dually registered pupils in special schools) in January each year.
	(4) The percentage is calculated by dividing the number of sessions (i.e. half days) missed due to unauthorised absence by the total number of sessions.
	(5) Provisional estimates
	Source:
	Annual Schools' Census and the Absence in Schools Survey

Faith Communities

Paul Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will list projects involving faith communities which are supported by her Department.

David Miliband: The information requested is not collected centrally by my Department.

Autistic Children

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what plans she has to reduce the number of exclusions from school of autistic children; how she plans to support autistic children in Autism Awareness Year; and if she will make a statement.

Stephen Twigg: Figures on the number of children excluded from school by type of special educational need are not collected centrally. Guidance from the Department makes clear that, other than in the most exceptional circumstances, schools should avoid permanently excluding pupils with statements of special educational needs. The guidance also requires head teachers to say, when reporting exclusions to Discipline Committees and local education authorities, whether the pupil has special educational needs, either with or without a statement. The most recent figures show that the rate of permanent exclusions for children with statements of special educational needs as compared with other pupils is declining—three times as high in 2000–01 as compared with six times as high the previous year.
	On 22 July the Department published guidance from its Autism Working Group on autistic spectrum disorders. This provides guidance to schools, local education authorities and others on the nature of the disorders and pointers to good practice. It will raise awareness of autistic spectrum disorders further and help teachers and local education authorities to fulfil their statutory duties to meet children's special educational needs, whether the children are in mainstream or special schools.

Mental Health

Phil Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what steps she is taking to (a) help schools promote mental health and (b) support teachers and pupils in dealing with mental health problems.

David Miliband: In June last year, the Department published guidance "Promoting Children's Mental Health within Early Years and School Settings". The guidance is designed to help teachers and others, working alongside mental health professionals, to promote children's mental health and to intervene effectively with those experiencing problems. A four page summary is also available.
	The National Healthy School Standard (NHSS), which was launched in October 1999, has as one of its specific themes "Emotional Health and Well being", which includes awareness of mental health issues. The development of emotional health and well being is covered in the National Curriculum as part of the Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE) framework. PSHE enables pupils to develop their self-esteem, confidence and well being. It also helps pupils to appreciate the effect of their actions on their own lives and the lives of others, and to understand the limits and codes of personal and social behaviour.
	In addition the Department has been working with its partners to develop a long-term strategy on behaviour improvement. A key measure being piloted is the establishment of Behaviour and Education Support Teams. Their role is to provide an effective early intervention model of supportive services to children and young people who are experiencing emotional, behavioural and mental health problems, and their families. These multi-agency Teams will link with Social Services and Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS).
	The Department are working closely with the Department of Health on the National Service Framework (NSF) for children. One of the modules will be setting standards for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS). Officials in my Department are represented on the CAMHS module.

Scottish Executive

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many formal and official inter-ministerial meetings her Department has held with the Scottish Executive since May 1999, broken down by (a) Scottish Executive department, (b) subject and (c) date.

Stephen Twigg: holding answer 24 July 2002
	Information is not available in the form requested. Ministers from my Department have frequent meetings with Ministers from the Scottish Executive, both formal and informal, covering a broad range of topics.

Secondary Schools, Taunton

Adrian Flook: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many vacancies, unfilled with permanent staff, in secondary schools there are in the Taunton constituency; and how many there were in 1997.

David Miliband: In January 2002, there were 12 vacancies for full-time teachers in maintained nursery, primary, secondary and special schools in Somerset Local Education Authority, compared with no recorded vacancies in January 1997.
	In the same period, the number of full-time equivalent regular teachers working in the maintained sector in Somerset Local Education Authority rose by 290. This is the most recent information available.

Better Public Buildings Initiative

Debra Shipley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will name the projects the departmental Design Champion has sponsored as part of the Better Public Buildings initiative; and if she will make a statement on the extent of her personal input in respect of each.

David Miliband: My noble Friend, the Baroness Ashton is the Department's Design Champion and she will announce which projects she is to sponsor in the autumn.

Asylum Seekers (Nottingham)

Alan Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many children from families of asylum seekers are in Nottingham schools; what additional funding has gone to schools in Nottingham to address the needs of the children of asylum seekers; how much specialist language teaching the Government have funded for each child from an asylum-seeking family in Nottingham; and what funding packages the Government have made available in Nottingham to meet the education and training needs of asylum seekers.

Stephen Twigg: There were over 400 children from families of asylum seekers in Nottingham schools in May 2002 but numbers fluctuate greatly throughout the school year.
	Nottingham schools receive funding for these children in the same way that they do for all other children on school rolls, through the Education Standard Spending Assessment. Both LEAs are eligible for funding through the Ethnic Minority Achievement Grant (EMAG). The total allocations for EMAG for 2002–03 are £1,974,000 for Nottingham City and £278,000 for Nottinghamshire. In addition, Nottingham has received a total of £148,500 from this Department's grant to support the children of asylum seekers in schools in the Home Office dispersal areas.
	In Nottingham, the EMAG supports 100 specialist teachers who provide English language support to children, including those from asylum seeking families.
	The provision of funding to meet the education and training needs of asylum seekers is a matter for the Learning and Skills Council. I have therefore asked John Harwood, the Council's Chief Executive to write to the Honourable Gentleman with the information requested and to place a copy of his reply in the Library.

Pupil Funding

Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will commission independent research to establish the gap in the level of funding per pupil between school sixth forms and colleges of further education.

Margaret Hodge: Given the different ways in which schools and colleges are funded and the very much broader remit of colleges, comparisons on the funding of school sixth forms and colleges of further education are far from straight forward. My Department is currently considering the best basis for making sound comparisons and we do not believe that external research is necessary. The Government remains firmly committed to bring up the level of funding of colleges towards that of school sixth forms. However, as we have repeatedly made clear, this will take time and must be done as resources allow.

Child Care

Andrew Love: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what action is being taken to ensure that the national child care strategy is able to offer affordable places to all children whose parents wish it in neighbourhood renewal areas; and if she will make a statement.

David Miliband: Childcare plays a critical role in sustaining and strengthening communities and in helping parents out of poverty through work.
	Affordability of childcare can be a major barrier for many parents, particularly women and lone parents wishing to take up employment, education and training. The Childcare Tax Credit helps parents to take up the provision made available through the National Childcare Strategy by giving financial assistance to low and middle income working parents to pay for childcare. Some 158,000 families have already benefited from this help.
	The Neighbourhood Nurseries Initiative, part of the National Childcare Strategy, was launched in 2001. Over £203 million has been made available to create 45,000 high quality childcare places in the most disadvantaged areas in England. All Neighbourhood Renewal areas are in the target areas for Neighbourhood Nurseries.
	Following the conclusions of the Inter Departmental Review of Childcare, the Chancellor announced on 15 July a £1.5 billion combined budget for childcare, early years education and Sure Start by 2005–06. The extra funding will support the expansion of childcare places across England, with particular emphasis on disadvantaged areas through the setting up of children's centres integrating good quality childcare with early years education, family support and health services. Our longer term aim is to establish a children's centre in every one of the 20 per cent. most disadvantaged areas.

Learn Direct Plus

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills, how many people have enrolled on learndirect plus in Portsmouth South constituency since it began; how many courses are provided in Portsmouth South; how much funding has been provided for these courses; and if she will make a statement.

Ivan Lewis: pursuant to the reply 27 June 2002, 19W
	an incorrect figure was quoted. There have been 1839 learners to date in the Portsmouth South constituency since learndirect was rolled out in October 2000.

Job Location

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many jobs under the remit of her Department in (a) the core department, (b) non-departmental public bodies, (c) executive agencies and (d) independent statutory bodies, organisations and bodies financially sponsored by her Department and other such organisations, are located in (i) Scotland, (ii) England, excluding Greater London, (iii) Greater London, (iv) Wales, (v) Northern Ireland and (vi) overseas, broken down by (A) whole time equivalent jobs and (B) the percentage per individual department, body or organisation.

Stephen Twigg: holding answer 24 July 2002
	The information requested is set out in the table below:
	
		
			 ScotlandEngland ex. Greater LondonGreater London 
			  No. WTE  per cent. No. WTE  per cent. No. WTE  per cent. 
		
		
			 Core Department 0 - 2125 51.0 2040 49.0 
			 NDPBs 590 7.5 6558 83.3 724 9.2 
			 Executive Agencies 0 - 0 - 0 - 
			 Ind. Stat. Bodies   
		
	
	
		
			  Wales  Northern Ireland  Others  
			  No. WTE  per cent. No. WTE  per cent. No. WTE  per cent. 
		
		
			 Core Department 0 - 0 - 0 - 
			 NDPBs 0 - 0 - 0 - 
			 Executive Agencies 0 - 0 - 0 - 
			 Ind. Stat. Bodies   
		
	
	DfES does not hold information in the form required for independent statutory bodies and other organisations which it financially sponsors.
	The percentages are of the total numbers in the core Department and in its NDPB's.

Area-Based Initiatives

Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will list for each area-based initiative for which her Department is responsible the amount originally budgeted for in (a) 2000–01 and (b) 2001–02, stating in each year what funds budgeted for were not spent and if they were carried forward.

Estelle Morris: The table below sets out the original budgets for area based initiatives and shows the carry forward amounts for each initiative.
	
		
			   2000–2001   2001–2002  
			 £ millions 1 . In year Budget Spend Carry forward In year Budget Spend Carry forward 
		
		
			 Neighbourhood Nurseries 0 0 0 46 2 44 
			 SureStart 184 56 128 206 136 70 
			 Education Action Zones 2 . 59 56 3 64 63 1 
			 Children's Fund 0 0 0 85 34 51 
			 Community Champions 1 1 0 3 3 0 
		
	
	Footnote
	1 . All budgets are rounded to the nearest million.

Learning And Skills Council

Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will list in respect of each programme transferred to the Learning and Skills Council (a) the agency, or agencies, previously responsible, (b) the total resources allocated in 2000–01, (c) the total resources allocated for 2001–02 and (d) the estimated costs of administering the programme in 2000–01.

Margaret Hodge: The information requested at (a), (b) and (c) is shown in the following table. The best estimate of the cost of administering the programme in 2000–01 is between £270 million and £280 million.
	
		
			  a) Agency responsible for the delivery of the programme in 2000–2001 b) Total resources expended in 2000–2001 c) Total resources allocated for 2001–2002 
			   £ £ 
		
		
			 ADMINISTRATION   
			 Administration FEFC/TECs 275,000,000 188,000,000 
			 FURTHER EDUCATION
			 Capital FEFC 54,842,800 140,000,000 
			 Participation FEFC 3,311,043,000 3,609,489,000 
			 Summer Schools FEFC  2,000,000 
			 FE and 16–18 Sector Rationalisation 
			 Recurrent Funding FEFC 8,946,886 7,737,000 
			 Standards Fund FEFC 70,000,000 186,000,000 
			 Pastoral Support New in 2001–02  3,000,000 
			 Student Support FEFC 93,490,186 103,796,000 
			 Ethnic Minority Student Achievement Grant FEFC 2,000,000 2,000,000 
			 Skill and View DfES 92,000 97,000 
			 Dance and Drama DfES 5,740,175 8,450,000 
			 Teacher's Pay Initiative New in 2001–02  65,000,000 
			 WORK BASED LEARNING
			 Health and Safety Booklets DfES 76,171 87,000 
			 Work Based Training for Young People TECs 809,540,623 748,650,000 
			 Gateway Programme DfES 1,067,994 250,000 
			 Youth Policy Development DfES 2,212,482 1,400,000 
			 Life Skills TECs 949,900 61,000,000 
			 Other Work Based Learning Programmes DfES 8,528 1,469,000 
			 OTHER
			 Adult Information Advice and Guidance DfES 18,795,475 23,000,000 
			 National Marketing and Promotion DfES 302,403 7,300,000 
			 NVQ Marketing and Promotion New in 2001–02  350,000 
			 Local Initiatives TECs 16,301,595 95,300,000 
			 Excellence Challenge New in 2001–02  3,900,000 
			 Adult and Community Learning DETR 145,000,000 153,000,000 
			 Workforce Development DfES 62,467,477 48,241,000 
			 Education Business Links DfES 13,007,043 29,000,000 
			 New Entrepreneur Scholarships New in 2001–02  2,000,000 
			 Bite Size New in 2001–02  2,000,000 
			 Total  4,882,827,512 5,492,516,000 
			 SUMMARY  2000–2001  
			 FEFC  3,545,427,525  
			 TECs  826,792,118  
			 DfES  235,607,869  
			 Administration  275,000,000  
			 Summary Total  4,882,827,512

Child Abuse

Jimmy Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will make a statement on the work of the Children and Young People's Unit; and what work it has done since November 2001 relating to combating child abuse.

John Denham: The Children and Young People's Unit works to ensure the coherence of Government policies that affect all children and young people who are under 19, and particularly those who are most vulnerable. In November 2001, it launched a consultation exercise to develop an over-arching strategy for all policies and services for children and young people in England. The framework for the strategy includes looking to secure the objective that children should live in a safe and secure community, where they are protected from abuse. The Unit is now considering the responses to the consultation in preparing a final strategy for publication later this year.
	In its work within Government, the Unit works closely with the Department of Health and other Departments on matters relating to child abuse.

Child Abuse

Andrew Hunter: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will take measures to oblige school governing bodies to give children who are the victims of alleged grossly inappropriately sexual behaviour and indecent assault and their parents the opportunity to give their account of such incidents.

Stephen Twigg: Schools must have formal procedures for dealing with any complaints about the curriculum and special educational needs, and we recommend as a matter of good practice that governing bodies should also have procedures to ensure that other complaints are dealt with properly.
	In dealing with complaints and in making provision for complaints procedures, the governing body should ensure that the person complaining is given fair treatment and in particular, a chance to state their case. Decisions and reasons for them should be given in writing and the person complaining should be informed at the same time of any rights of appeal they have if they wish to take the matter further. We already give guidance to governing bodies and schools about their role in helping to protect children from abuse, and about dealing with allegations of abuse against members of staff. This is contained in Circular 10/95 "Protecting Children from Abuse: The Role of the Education Service"

Child Abuse

Andrew Hunter: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will issue guidelines to school governing bodies and local education authorities clarifying at what point grossly inappropriately sexual behaviour becomes indecent assault.

Stephen Twigg: A decision as to at what point grossly inappropriately sexual behaviour becomes indecent assault is a matter for the police and the Crown Prosecution Service and not for the education service. Those agencies must decide whether, in any particular case, alleged behaviour is within the scope of the offences as defined in the Sexual Offences Act 1956.

Child Abuse

Andrew Hunter: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will instruct school governing bodies to which allegations of grossly inappropriately sexual behaviour or indecent assault have been reported to give due consideration to any ongoing police or Child Protection Unit investigations.

Stephen Twigg: My Department's Circular 10/95 "Protecting Children from Abuse: The Role of the Education Service" already advises that schools should refer any allegations of abuse to the police or child protection agencies. Schools should liaise with those agencies in accordance with the procedures laid down by their local Area Child Protection Committee (ACPC).
	In the case of allegations of abuse against a member of staff, the Circular also advises that a police or social services investigation will take priority over an internal investigation by the school. An internal investigation running alongside a police or child protection agency enquiry is not likely to be good practice and should be held in abeyance pending the outcome of the external investigation. Due consideration can then be given to any allegations and to any disciplinary action by the school or governing body.

Child Abuse

Andrew Hunter: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will take measures to ensure that school governors receive instruction on the handling of allegations of grossly inappropriately sexual behaviour and indecent assault.

Stephen Twigg: My Department has already issued advice to Local Education Authorities and schools about dealing with allegations of abuse in Circular 10/95. "Protecting Children from Abuse: The Role of the Education Service". The Circular advises that schools and colleges should have procedures that are in accordance with the child protection procedures established by the Area Child Protection Committee and, where appropriate, by the local education authority, including procedures to be followed if a member of staff is accused of abuse.
	This guidance is under review following the introduction of a new statutory duty regarding child protection in the Education Act 2002. The new duty will require governing bodies of schools or Further Education institutions and LEAs to have arrangements for ensuring that their functions are carried out with a view to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and to have regard guidance by the Secretary of State (or the National Assembly for Wales) in making such arrangements. We are planning to consult on this guidance in the autumn, and we hope that all those with an interest, including teachers, governors and LEAs, will contribute to that consultation.

Child Abuse

Andrew Hunter: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will amend Circular 10/99 to provide greater protection for child-victims.

Stephen Twigg: My Department's guidance about child protection is contained in Circular 10/95 "Protecting Children from Abuse: The Role of the Education Service". This is under review and we will be consulting about new guidance in the autumn. We will take full account of any representations we receive about this issue.

CULTURE MEDIA AND SPORT

Accessible Communications Services

Roger Berry: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what steps she is taking to ensure that OFCOM takes into account the rights and needs of disabled consumers and reflects best practice on access standards.

Kim Howells: In carrying out its functions OFCOM must have regard to the needs of people with disabilities—this is stipulated in Clause 3(2) of the draft Communications Bill.

BBC (Fair Trading)

Roger Gale: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport who takes responsibility for the enforcement of the BBCs fair trading commitment.

Kim Howells: holding answer 17 July 2002
	The BBC's overall fair trading commitment is approved and enforced by the Board of Governors, but many of its detailed elements directly reflect the requirements of UK and EC Competition law and to that extent are enforceable by the competition authorities.

BBC (Fair Trading)

Roger Gale: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what representations she has received concerning the future enforcement by Ofcom of the BBC fair trading commitment,

Kim Howells: holding answer 17 July 2002
	ITN has made representations that the future enforcement of the BBC's fair trading commitment should lie with OFCOM rather than the BBC Governors.

Princess of Wales (Memorial)

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport 
	(1)  when she will make a decision on the memorial fountain to Diana Princess of Wales; when work on the memorial fountain will commence; and when it is expected that the memorial fountain will be on view to the public;
	(2)  what her latest estimate is of the cost of the memorial fountain to Diana, Princess of Wales; and if she will make a statement.

Tessa Jowell: holding answer 18 July 2002
	I announced on 31 July that I had selected Gustafson Porter to design the fountain to commemorate the life of Diana, Princess of Wales. Work to design and construct the fountain will begin immediately. £3 million has been allocated to the project. I expect the main part of the memorial to be in place by the sixth anniversary of her death; the establishment of the surrounding landscaping will take longer.

Area-Based Initiatives

Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will list for each area-based initiative for which her Department is responsible the amount originally budgeted for in (a) 2000–01 and (b) 2001–02, stating in each year what funds budgeted for were not spent and if they were carried forward.

Richard Caborn: My Department's main Area-Based Initiative is Space for Sport and Arts. Space for Sport and Arts was launched in October 2000. Bids were invited from Local Education Authorities for funding for capital projects aimed to improve primary school arts and sports facilities for dual school and community use. All the funding for successful projects had been committed by March 2002.
	Space for Sport and Arts is a collaboration between DCMS, DfES and three National Lottery Distributors—Sport England, the New Opportunities Fund and the Arts Council of England. Funding for Space for Sport and Arts is £130 million—£75 million from the Government's Capital Modernisation Fund and £55 million from the National Lottery.
	The amounts budgeted by My Department for Space for Sport and Arts and the total expenditure in 2000–01 and 2001–02 is as follows:
	
		£ million 
		
			 Year Budget Spend 
		
		
			 2000–01 15.0 0.013 
			 2001–02 60.0 0.579 
		
	
	The amount originally budgeted for Space for Sport and Arts that was not spent by the end of 2001–02 is £74.408 million. All of these funds are committed and, under end-year flexibility arrangements, will be available in this and later years to pay for the projects being assisted.
	My Department provides grant-in-aid to a number of Non-Departmental Public Bodies (NDPBs); some of these NDPBs run their own Area-Based Initiatives which appear on the Regional Coordination Unit website.
	Additionally the Department is involved in several area-based initiatives funded through the Lottery.

Press Office

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many (a) full time equivalents were employed by her press office and (b) secondees were placed in her press office in the last five years; and if she will make a statement.

Kim Howells: holding answer 22 July 2002
	In July 1997, there were nine press officers in my department, including two working part time. In July 2002, there were seven press officers, all full time. A small number of informal, short term secondments to the press office took place during that time.

Special Advisers

Andrew Tyrie: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the (a) dates, (b) location and (c) sources were of attributable (i) articles, interviews or contributions for the media, books or other journals and (ii) speeches or presentations made in the public domain, by departmental special advisers since March 2001; who in her Department authorised the activity; and on what date this activity was recorded with the departmental Head of Information.

Kim Howells: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to him by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister on 24 July 2002, Official Report, column 1373.

BBC Digital Services

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will make a statement on the BBC's expenditure on digital services.

Kim Howells: This is a matter for the BBC Governors. However, the licence fee settlement, in February 2000, recognised the BBC's role in driving digital take-up and in acting as a "benchmark of quality" during the development of digital services. It included a commitment by DCMS to a rolling programme of reviews of all the new digital services, the first such review being of BBC News 24.

Sport England

John Greenway: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will list the projected amount of World Class Performance funding to be distributed by (a) UK Sport and (b) Sport England in (i) 2002–03, (ii) 2003–04, (iii) 2004–05 and (iv) 2005–06.

Richard Caborn: holding answer 23 July 2002
	The projected amount of funding to be distributed by UK Sport on their World Class Performance Programme, together with the projected investment by Sport England in their World Class Programmes is show in the following table.
	
		
			  2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 
		
		
			 UK Sport £24m £24.1m £24.3m £24.3m 
			 Sport England £5.1m £42m £42m £42m

Sport England

John Greenway: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport the amount of World Class Performance funding to be distributed by (a) UK Sport and (b) Sport England in (i) 1999–2000, (ii) 2000–01 and (iii) 2001–02.

Richard Caborn: holding answer 23 July 2002
	The amount of World Class Performance funding awarded by Sport England and the actual expenditure incurred by UK Sport for the years requested is as follows.
	
		
			  1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 
		
		
			 UK Sport £16.5m £20.1m £22.5m 
			 Sport England £16m £8.8m £6.7m

Temporary Staff

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many employees under contract from temping agencies worked in her Department; and how much was spent on temporary staff (a) as a total and (b) as a percentage of the total staffing budget in each of the last five years for which figures are available.

Kim Howells: The information requested on the Department is in the following table:
	
		
			 Financial year 2001–02 2000–01 1999–2000 1998–99 1997–98 
		
		
			 No. of temporary staff 90 97 108 N/a N/a 
			 Temporary staff costs £409,742 £387,296 £456,230 £491,203 N/a 
			 as a percentage of total staff costs 2.79 2.82 3.47 4.16 N/a 
		
	
	The relevant information for 1997–98 is not held electronically in the format requested and can only be obtained at disproportionate cost. Similarly, information on number of temporary staff for 1998–99 is not readily available and can only be obtained at disproportionate cost

Better Public Buildings Initiative

Debra Shipley: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will name the projects the departmental Design Champion has sponsored as part of the better public buildings initiative; and if she will make a statement on the extent of her personal input in respect of each.

Kim Howells: The DCMS design champion, my right hon. and Noble Friend the Minister for the Arts (Baroness Blackstone) has personally sponsored three projects; a DCMS conference, "Taking the Lead: Good Design in Public Buildings" at which she delivered a keynote address; Stonehenge, one of the UK World Heritage sites where DCMS led by my right hon. and Noble Friend is driving work forward to protect the site and improve the visitor experience; and the BBC project to redevelop Broadcasting House and the surrounding area. My right hon. and noble Friend met Richard MacCormac, the architect for the project on Monday 29 July 2002.

Public Buildings Action Plans

Debra Shipley: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport which Departments have produced better public buildings action plans.

Kim Howells: The following departments have produced action plans:
	Department for Culture, Media and Sport
	Department for Work and Pensions
	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
	Department for Trade and Industry
	Lord Chancellor's Department
	Home Office
	Ministry of Defence
	Department of Health
	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	The former Department for Transport and Local Regions was preparing an action plan for publication on 5 July. Due to the recent departmental changes, new action plans will now need to be prepared for the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and the Department for Transport. The Department for Education and Skills plan to publish an Action Plan later this autumn.

Portable Antiquities Scheme

Jim Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what action she intends to take to ensure that the Portable Antiquities Scheme is continued and that her Department will provide long term financial support for the scheme.

Kim Howells: In March this year, my right hon. and noble Friend, the Minister of State for the Arts, announced at the Standing Conference on Portable Antiquities that DCMS would be funding the Scheme's pilot posts for the following financial year, and promised that the longer term funding of the Scheme would be considered in the light of the outcome of the Chancellor of the Exchequer's Spending Review.
	My right hon. Friend's Review has delivered additional resources for DCMS, over the three year period of the review, which will provide real-term growth at an average of 3.5 per cent. a year. Decisions on the allocation of these additional resources will be taken over the coming months

BBC

Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport when her Department expects to receive the Office of Fair Trading's report on the BBC's UK programme quotas; and if she will make a statement.

Kim Howells: holding answer 24 July 2002
	I understand that the Office of Fair Trading is preparing its report and that it will be available shortly.

Tourists

Adrian Flook: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many tourists visited (a) Somerset and (b) Taunton Deane in (i) 2001 and (ii) 2000.

Kim Howells: South West Tourism reports that in 2000 Somerset received a total of 12.09 million visits, including day visits, of which 2.18 million were made to Taunton Deane.
	Detailed visit data are not yet available for 2001. However, United Kingdom Tourism Survey data show that 3.32 million visits involving stays of one or more nights were made to Somerset in 2001.

Job Locations

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many jobs under the remit of her Department in (a) the core department, (b) non-departmental public bodies, (c) executive agencies and (d) independent statutory bodies, organisations and bodies financially sponsored by her Department, the BBC and other such organisations, are located in (i) Scotland, (ii) England, excluding Greater London, (iii) Greater London, (iv) Wales, (v) Northern Ireland and (vi) overseas, broken down by (A) whole time equivalent jobs and (B) the percentage per individual department, body or organisation.

Kim Howells: holding answer 24 July 2002
	The information requested is not held centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Sports and Recreation

Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport 
	(1)  what plans she has to assess the national provision of sports and recreation facilities; and if she will make a statement;
	(2)  what plans she has to assess the national provision of open space available for informal sport and recreation; and if she will make a statement.

Richard Caborn: My Department has announced our intention to establish an England-wide database of sports facilities. Information on sports facilities in England is currently held by a variety of organisations and a single database will enable more strategic Government investment in those areas and facilities which are most important. My Department is currently assessing the scope, content and cost of the proposed database and how the project will be taken forward.

Sport Action Zones

Andrew Love: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport when she will announce the next round of sport action zones; and if she will make a statement.

Richard Caborn: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave him on 21 May 2002, Official Report, column 252W. The position has not changed since then.

Sport Expenditure

Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the expected increase in expenditure on sport as a result of the Spending Review is; and if she will make a statement.

Richard Caborn: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given on 24 July by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State to my hon. Friend the Member for Harrow, West (Mr Thomas), Official Report, columns 1164–1165W.

Ministerial Design Champions

Debra Shipley: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will list the projects the Ministerial design champions for each Government Department are sponsoring.

Kim Howells: Department for Culture, Media and Sport:
	Taking the Lead: Good Design in Public Buildings conference at the Imperial War Museum held in October 2001
	Stonehenge visitor reception building
	BBC Broadcasting House, Portland Place
	Home Office: HQ Building Marsham Street
	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Old Rectory Farm, Surrey
	Drayton Farm, Warwickshire
	Treasury: Arrangements for sponsorship of the ongoing GOGGS project by a Treasury Minister will be finalised in the autumn
	Ministry of Defence: MOD Main Building PFI
	Tidworth Primary Health Care Centre Functional Prime Contract
	Department for Work and Pensions: Hartshead Square, Sheffield
	DWP will also announce another project this autumn
	Lord Chancellor's Department: Exeter Combined Courts
	Manchester Civil Justice Centre
	East Anglia PPP
	Department of Health: University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Trust
	Leicester City West Primary Care Trust
	Manchester Children's University Hospital NHS Trust
	Walsall Hospitals NHS Trust
	Foreign and Commonwealth Office: New British embassy and ambassador's residence Warsaw
	The Department for Trade and Industry and the Department for Education and Skills will announce projects in the autumn.
	The new design champions for the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and the Department for Transport have not yet confirmed which projects they will be sponsoring.

TRADE AND INDUSTRY

Fireworks

Alan Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what discussions her Department has had with fireworks retailers regarding the period in which fireworks can be sold.

Brian Wilson: Discussions are to take place shortly with fireworks retailers regarding the voluntary period of sale.

Fireworks

Alan Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what discussions her Department has had with fireworks manufacturers regarding the banning of aerial bangers.

Brian Wilson: The Department has had discussions with representatives of fireworks manufacturers who have put in place a voluntary ban on the supply of air bombs to the consumer.

Fireworks

Alan Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what representations her Department has had from animal welfare organisations regarding the sale and use of fireworks.

Brian Wilson: The Department has received representations from animal welfare organisations regarding the sale and use of fireworks, but this is essentially a matter for the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) under the Protection of Animals Act 1919.

Arms Trade

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what (a) United Kingdom, (b) EU, (c) international and (d) other regulations apply to the trading of arms.

Nigel Griffiths: The export of arms from the UK is controlled under the Import, Export and Customs Powers (Defence) Act 1939. EU arms embargoes are controlled by means of regulations made under the Treaty establishing the European Communities and are directly applicable to all Member States. Licensing, enforcement and penalties for breach of the regulations are provided for in national legislation made under the European Communities Act 1972. United Nations (UN) arms embargoes are implemented in the UK under the UN Act 1946 and the Import, Export and Customs Power (Defence) Act 1939.
	In addition, the Export Control Bill contains new powers allowing controls to be imposed on trading of arms between overseas countries.

F-16 Fighters

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what written assurances have been given in the course of issuing an export licence regarding the use in third countries of UK navigation and targeting equipment supplied to the US makers of F-16 fighters.

Nigel Griffiths: holding answer 11 July 2002
	Apart from the normal end user documentation, written assurances are normally only sought in relation to the use of equipment exported from the UK in connection with weapons of mass destruction.

Export Licences

George Galloway: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many revocations of arms export licences to Israel there were in each month since January 2000; in what categories they were; and if she will make a statement.

Nigel Griffiths: The number of Open Individual Export Licences (OIELs) where licences were revoked or whose coverage was amended by the exclusion of Israel, for items on the Military List, in each month between January 2000 and June 2002, is set out in the table below.
	Individual licences might cover a range of items with various ratings. Where this is so, the licence is included in the tables in the total of all of the relevant ratings.
	
		
			  ML1 ML2 ML4 ML6 ML9 ML10 ML11 ML13 ML22 PL5006 PL5017 
		
		
			 January 2000 - - - - - - - - - - - 
			 February 2000 - - - - - - - - - - - 
			 March 2000 - - - - - - - - - - - 
			 April 2000 - - - - - - - - - - - 
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			 December 2000 2 1 - - - - - - - - 1 
			 January 2001 - - - - - - - - - - - 
			 February 2001 - - 1 2 2 3 2 3 1 - 2 
			 March 2001 - - 1 - - 1 1 - 1 1 - 
			 April 2001 - - - - - - - - - - - 
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			 June 2001 - - - - - - - - - - - 
			 July 2001 - - - - - - - - - - - 
			 August 2001 - - - 1 1 2 - - 1 - 2 
			 September 2001 - - - - - - - - - - - 
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			 November 2001 - - - - - - - - - - - 
			 December 2001 - - - - - - - - - - - 
			 January 2002 - - - - - - - - - - - 
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			 April 2002 - - - - - - - - - - - 
			 May 2002 - - - - - - - - - - - 
			 June 2002 - - - - - - - - - - - 
		
	
	During the same period no Standard Individual Export Licences, for items on the Military List, were revoked where the end user was in Israel. In addition, Israel has been removed from the coverage of one Open General Export Licence, for items on the Military List, details of which are available from the Libraries of the House.
	Since the publication of the 2001 Annual Report on Strategic Export Controls it has come to light that two OIELs for items on the Military List, which were revoked or whose coverage was amended by the exclusion of Israel, were inadvertently omitted from the Report.

Export Licences

Menzies Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the value is of licences granted for equipment on the military and dual-use lists to (a) Georgia, (b) Uzbekistan, (c) Kyrgyzstan, (d) Tajikistan, (e) Turkey, (f) the Philippines, (g) Kenya, (h) Ethiopia, (i) Djibouti, (j) Bahrain, (k) Oman, (l) Jordan, (m) Yemen, (n) India, (o) Pakistan and (p) Israel in each month from January 2001 to June 2002; and if she will make a statement.

Patricia Hewitt: holding answer 8 July 2002
	The total value of SIEL applications for which a licence was issued, is published by destination in the Government's Annual Reports on Strategic Export Controls, copies of which are placed in the Libraries of the House. The 2001 Annual Report will be published soon.

Export Licences

Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many individual export licence applications have been outstanding for more than (a) three months; (b) six months and (c) one year.

Nigel Griffiths: holding answer 2 July 2002
	The Department of Trade and Industry's Export Control Organisation (ECO) was processing 1,584 applications for individual export licences as of 1 July 2002, of which 312 Standard Individual Export Licence (SIEL) applications and 84 Open Individual Export Licence (OIEL) applications had been outstanding for more than three months; of those, 51 SIEL and 42 OIEL applications had been outstanding for more than 6 months; and, of those, 19 SIEL and 13 OIEL applications had been outstanding for more than one year.
	As a result of its programme of continuous improvement the ECO has, in partnership with other Government Departments, substantially reduced the time taken to process all applications, and in particular the most complicated and sensitive cases. The number of SIEL applications taking more than 6 months to finalise is less than a third of the figure at the same time last year.

Export Licences

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many arms export licences were (a) requested and (b) granted for exports to Belarus (i) from 1997 to August 2001 and (ii) since August 2001; and if she will make a statement.

Brian Wilson: Between 2 May 1997 and 31 August 2001 no Standard Individual Export Licence (SIEL) applications and 4 Open Individual Export Licence (OIEL) applications were received, for items on the Military List, where the end users were in Belarus. Between 1 September 2001 and 15 July 2002 no SIEL applications and 2 OIEL applications were received, for items on the Military List, where the end users were in Belarus.
	The number of SIELs and OIELs issued, for items on the Military List, where the end users were in Belarus, between 2 May 1997 and 31 December 2001 are published in the Government's Annual Reports on Strategic Export Controls. Copies of the 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2001 Annual Reports are available from the Libraries of the House.
	Between 1 January 2001 and 31 August 2001, no SIELs or OIELs were issued, for items on the Military List, where the end user was in Belarus. Between 1 September 2001 and 15 July 2002, no SIELs and 1 OIEL was issued, for items on the Military List, where the end user was in Belarus.
	This information should be considered in light of the answer given by my hon. Friend the Member for Hornsey and Wood Green (Mrs. Roche) to my hon. Friend the Member for Don Valley (Caroline Flint) on 30 October 1997, Official Report, columns 870–71.

Export Licences

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many arms export licences were (a) requested and (b) granted for exports to the Ukraine (i) from 1997 to August 2000 and (ii) since August 2000; and if she will make a statement.

Brian Wilson: Between 2 May 1997 and 31 August 2000, 14 Standard Individual Export Licence (SIEL) applications and 8 Open Individual Export Licence (OIEL) applications were received for items on the Military List, where the end users were in the Ukraine. Between 1 September 2000 and 15 July 2002, 4 SIEL applications and 5 OIEL applications were received for items on the Military List, where the end users were in the Ukraine.
	The number of SIELs and OIELs issued, for items on the Military List, where the end users were in the Ukraine, between 2 May 1997 and 31 December 2001 are published in the Government's Annual Reports on Strategic Export Controls. Copies of the 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2001 Annual Reports are available from the Libraries of the House.
	Between 1 January 2000 and 31 August 2000, 2 SIELs and no OIELs were issued, for items on the Military List, where the end users were in the Ukraine. Between 1 September 2000 and 31 December 2000, 1 SIEL and 1 OIEL were issued, for items on the Military List, where the end users were in the Ukraine. Between 1 January 2002 and 15 July 2002, no SIELs and 2 OIELs were issued, for items on the Military List, where the end users were in the Ukraine.
	This information should be considered in light of the answer given by my hon. Friend the Member for Hornsey and Wood Green (Mrs. Roche) to my hon. Friend the Member for Don Valley (Caroline Flint) on 30 October 1997, Official Report, columns 870–71.

Export Licences

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many arms export licences were (a) requested and (b) granted for exports to (i) Georgia and (ii) Russia in each year since 1997; and if she will make a statement.

Brian Wilson: The number of Standard Individual Export Licence (SIEL) applications and Open Individual Export Licence (OIEL) applications received, for items on the Military List, where the end users were in Georgia and Russia, in each year since May 1997 is as follows:
	
		
			 GeorgiaRussia  
			  Siel Oiel Siel Oiel 
		
		
			 2 May 1997 to 2031 December 1997 1 1 12 3 
			 1998 4 0 20 2 
			 1999 2 0 10 2 
			 2000 2 1 18 3 
			 2001 0 2 18 4 
			 1 January 2002 to 15 July 2002 0 0 8 1 
		
	
	The number of SIELs and OIELs issued, for items on the Military List, where the end users were in Georgia and Russia, in each year since May 1997 are published by destination in the Government's Annual Reports in Strategic Export Controls. Copies of the 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2001 Annual Reports on Strategic Export Controls are available from the Libraries of the House.
	Between 1 January 2002 and 15 July 2002, no SIELs and 2 OIELs were issued, for items on the Military List, where the end users were in Georgia. During that same period 5 SIELs and 4 OIELs were issued, for items on the Military List, where the end users were in Russia.
	This information should be considered in light of the answer given by my hon. Friend the Member for Hornsey and Wood Green (Mrs Roche) to my hon. Friend the Member for Don Valley (Caroline Flint) on 30 October 1997, Official Report, columns 870–71.

Export Licences

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will list the types of equipment for which export licences were granted on 8 July in respect of exports to the USA of defence-related equipment; and if she will state the countries to which this equipment will be exported from the USA once incorporated into other defence equipment.

Nigel Griffiths: holding answer 11 July 2002
	The types of equipment for which Standard Individual Export Licences and Open Individual Export Licences were issued on Monday 8 July 2002, where the end user or consignee was in the United States of America, for items on the Military List, was as follows:
	ML1
	ML2
	ML6
	ML7
	ML9
	ML10
	ML15
	In addition, USA is a permitted destination on certain Open General Export Licences covering the export of items on the Military List; copies of all Open General Export Licences are placed in the Libraries of the House.
	In taking decisions to issue these licences, the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, acting through the Export Control Organisation, took into account the information available to her on the stated final destination of defence-related goods into which the goods licensed for export from the UK were to be incorporated, where relevant. These potential final destinations were Israel, Japan and the United Arab Emirates. It should however be noted that final decisions on exports of defence equipment from the United States of America are for the US exporter and Government.
	I refer the hon. Member to the reply given by my right hon. Friend, the Foreign Secretary to my hon. Friend the Member for Sherwood (Paddy Tipping) on 8 July 2002 Official Report, columns 650–52W.

Export Licences

Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many open individual export licences are valid for the export of arms to India.

Nigel Griffiths: holding answer 2 July 2002
	81.

Export Licences

Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many individual export licence applications for the sale of armaments to India have been received by her Department since 1 May; and how many have been approved.

Nigel Griffiths: holding answer 2 July 2002
	118 Standard Individual Export Licence (SIEL) applications and no Open Individual Export Licence (OIEL) applications for items on the military list.
	38 SIELs and 1 OIEL for items on the military list were issued.

Export Credit Guarantees Department

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, pursuant to her answer of 15 May 2002, Official Report, column 659W, on the Export Credit Guarantees Department, if she will break down the money paid under the Export Credit Guarantees Department (a) in (i) 1999–2000, (ii) 1998–99 and (iii) 1997–98 to the USSR (Civil Misc), (b) in 2000–01 to Jordan, (c) in 1999–2000 to the Philippines (Civil Aerospace), (d) in 1999–2000 to Indonesia (Civil, Misc), (e) in 1999–2000 to Indonesia, (Civil Aerospace) and (f) in 1999–2000 to Indonesia (Defence) by (A) the company and (B) the project involved; and if she will make a statement.

Patricia Hewitt: The table below lists the companies that ECGD has paid claims to and the types of project involved for the requested markets, years and sectors. ECGD seeks to recover claims payments on all cases whether through rescheduling agreements in the Paris Club or negotiations with individual buyers.
	
		
			 Year Market/Sectors Companies Projects 
		
		
			 1997–98 USSR/ Bank of Scotland Electronics plant 
			  Civil Misc. HSBC Bank plc Food processing plant 
			   Lloyds TSB Line of Credit (*3) 
			   Morgan Grenfell and Co Ltd Modernisation and Expansion of Acrylic Fibre plant 
			   National Westminster Bank Polypropylene plant 
			Steel Mill 
			Train Information System 
			Vehicle design and development 
			   Total Claims £53.2m 
			 1998–99 USSR/Civil Misc. Bank of Scotland Electronics plant 
			   HSBC Bank plc Line of Credit (*3) 
			   Lloyds TSB Modernisation and Expansion of Acrylic Fibre plant 
			   Morgan Grenfell and Co Ltd Polypropylene plant 
			   National Westminster Bank Steel Mill 
			Train Information System 
			Vehicle design and development 
			   Total Claims £46.1m 
			 1999–2000 USSR/Civil Misc. Bank of Scotland Electronics Plant 
			   Deutsche Bank AG London Line of Credit 
			Polypropylene Plant 
			Vehicle design and development 
			   Total Claims £37.8m 
			 2000–01 Jordan/Civil Misc. J Henry Schroder and Co Ltd Communications Equipment 
			   Total Claims £3.0m 
			 1999–2000 Philippines/Civil Aerospace Credit Agricole Indosuez Civil Aircraft 
			   Total Claims £14.9m 
			 1999–2000 Indonesia/Civil Misc. ANZ Banking Group Ltd Airport Security Equipment 
			   Barclays Bank plc Bridges 
			   Citibank International plc Coal Handling Terminal 
			   HSBC Bank plc Diesel Generators 
			   Lloyds TSB Hydroelectric Power Station 
			   West LB Navigational Aids 
			Radio Studio Equipment 
			Search and Rescue Equipment 
			Ship Loading Equipment 
			TV Studio 
			  Vacuum Metalliser Total Claims £15.3m 
			 1999–2000 Indonesia/Civil Aerospace Barclays Bank plc Civil Aircraft 
			   Citibank International plc Flight Simulator 
			   Lloyds TSB  
			   Total Claims £14.5m 
			 1999–2000 Indonesia/Defence ANZ Banking Group Ltd Airforce Training Facility 
			   HSBC Bank plc Armoured Vehicles 
			   Kleinwort Benson Ltd Flight Simulator 
			   Lloyds TSB Ground to Air Missiles 
			   West LB Line of Credit (*3) 
			Military Aircraft 
			Military Communications Equipment 
			Naval Simulators 
			Radar Equipment 
			   Total Claims £149.8m

Export Credit Guarantees Department

John Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what investigations are being carried out by the ECGD following the judgment of Judge Cullinan in Lesotho, on British companies that received ECGD support; and whether they have referred this case to the relevant external investigatory body.

Patricia Hewitt: We are aware that there has been a guilty verdict delivered against Masupha Sole, the former Chief Executive of the Lesotho Highlands Development Authority. However, the consortia involved in the Lesotho Highlands Water Project have not been convicted of corruption.
	ECGD is currently seeking information from the companies who were supported by ECGD and who were members of the consortia concerned, and continues to closely monitor developments in relation to Court action in Lesotho.
	ECGD is fully committed to eliminating bribery and corruption. On 28 September 2000, ECGD strengthened its own anti corruption measures—pre-empting the OECD Export Credit Group's Action Statement on Bribery and Officially Supported Export Credits and reflecting the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials.

Export Credit Guarantees Department

David Chaytor: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the total was of (a) premiums and (b) claims paid by the Export Credits Guarantee Department in the financial year 2001–02.

Patricia Hewitt: holding answer 24 July 2002
	The following table details premiums earned and claims paid for 2001–02.
	I have also included the total of recoveries and interest received by EGCD in the same period.
	
		
			  £ million 
		
		
			 Premium Earned 76.9 
			 Claims Authorised 250.0 
			 Recoveries and Interest 503.5

Export Credit Guarantees Department

David Chaytor: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the total of (a) premiums earned, (b) recoveries received, (c) claims paid and (d) interest support was in Export Credits Guarantee Department operations in relation to their defence business in (i) 2000–01 and (ii) 2001–02.

Patricia Hewitt: holding answer 24 July 2002
	The following table details Claims Paid, Premium Earned and Claims Recovered in respect of ECGD's support for defence related business in 2000–01 and 2001–02. The cost of interest rate support has been estimated on the proportion of ECGD credit business constituted by defence related business.
	Information on amounts received through Paris Club rescheduling has not been included as it is not held on sectoral basis and this cannot be readily determined. It is likely that taking account of these amounts would improve the position in respect of defence business cashflow.
	
		
			 Year Premium Earned £ million Claims Paid £ million Estimate of Interest Rate Support Claims Recovered £ million 
		
		
			 2000–01 38 181 4 0 
			 2001–02 10 125 7 0

Export Credit Guarantees Department

Tony Colman: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what ECGD support has been granted for (a) fossil fuel, (b) renewable energy and (c) nuclear power projects, broken down by country, in each year from 1997 to 2002.

Patricia Hewitt: The following table details amounts of ECGD business issued for power projects within the fossil fuel, nuclear and renewable energy sectors, between 1997 and 2002 to date.
	
		
			 Fuel Type Market £ million 1997–98 £ million 1998–99 £ million 1999–2000 £ million 2000–01 £ million 2001–02 £ million Total 
		
		
			 Fossil Abu Dhabi  88 
			  Anguilla  11 
			  Brazil  1616 
			  China 32 291 1   323 
			  Cyprus  55 
			  Dominican Republic23  23 
			  Hong Kong 73   1  74 
			  India  20 89 48  157 
			  Indonesia 39 39 
			  Israel 11 11 
			  Malaysia   770   770 
			  Mexico   3 77  80 
			  Oman   10 25  35 
			  Saint Kitts and Nevis  88 
			  Taiwan   128 18  146 
			  Turkey  22  34  56 
			  Vietnam   24   24 
			  Zimbabwe 9 9 
			  Egypt   6   6 
			  Philippines   72   72 
			  Bangladesh7  7 
			 Nuclear
			  China  5858 
			 Renewable
			  Thailand 6 6 
			  Total 159 428 1103 233 11 1933

Export Credit Guarantees Department

Jim Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, pursuant to her answer of 21 June 2002, Official Report, column 588W, on ECGD, if she will break down the figures for the financial years (a) 1999–2000 and (b) 2000–01 by country.

Patricia Hewitt: The following table details premium earned and claims paid by ECGD in respect of defence business by country for financial years 1999–2000 and 2000–01.
	Figures for claims indicate the year of payment rather than the year of underwriting. The majority of these claims have been subject to internationally brokered rescheduling agreements and it is expected that these claims will be recovered in full over time.
	The calculation of the premium amount for defence business in 1999–2000 has fallen slightly (from £27 million to £25.4 million) since ECGD was first asked to provide this figure. This is due to a combination of improved systems for reporting on business by industrial sector and movements in sterling–US dollar exchange rates.
	
		
			  1999–2000   2000–01 
		
		
			 Claims Indonesia 151 Indonesia 180 
			  Zimbabwe 1 Zimbabwe 1 
			  Total 152  181 
			 Premium Turkey 10.2 South Africa 29.2 
			  Saudi Arabia 8.9 Saudi Arabia 6.6 
			  Oman 3.2 Oman 1.6 
			  Malaysia 2.6 Greece 0.6 
			  Kuwait 0.5   
			  Total 25.4  38.0

Investment Grants

Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what measures are used to ensure that her Department is able to recover any grants awarded to overseas companies in connection with investment projects in the UK, that subsequently became repayable.

Alan Johnson: It is normal to seek a legally binding guarantee of repayment from the parent company. Other conditions may be sought depending on the circumstances of the specific case.

Investment Grants

Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much of the grant money paid to Viasystems Inc group in respect of its North Tyneside plant has been recovered.

Alan Johnson: We have recovered £3 million to date, in two tranches. The Department is in continuing discussions over the remaining sum.

Investment Grants

Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will ask the Comptroller and Auditor General to review the safeguards in place to ensure that grant moneys paid to overseas companies can be recovered if they subsequently become repayable, with special reference to the case of Viasystems Inc.

Alan Johnson: The Comptroller and Auditor General is an independent officer of the House. If the hon. Member wishes such a review to be carried out, I suggest he raises the matter with him.

General Agreement on Trade and Services

David Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on the impact of GATS on trade and industry.

Patricia Hewitt: holding answer 4 July 2002
	The purpose of the GATS is to promote economic growth through the expansion of trade in services. Quantifying the benefits of services liberalisation is difficult, but the available estimates suggest positive benefits for both developed and developing countries in particular.
	For the United Kingdom, liberalisation of services markets should be of particular benefit. The UK is the second largest exporter of services in the world and fourth largest importer. In 2001 exports of services amounted to £77 billion and imports were worth £65 billion. Services account for nearly 70 per cent. of our GDP.
	We believe that liberalisation of services underpinned by effective domestic regulatory frameworks can bring benefits to developing countries. Recent studies point to the economic efficiency and welfare gains that liberalisation can bring. The World Bank estimate that services liberalisation could boost the income of developing countries by nearly $900 billion. This is nearly five times the gain the bank estimate that they would obtain from liberalisation in goods. Liberalisation of infrastructure services such as financial, telecommunications and transport services can help developing countries by fostering the efficiency and growth of other sectors of their economies.
	Under the GATS countries can decide in which sectors and to what extent they wish to liberalise or privatise and when they think it would be beneficial for them to do so. The EC has made clear in its liberalisation requests that it is not seeking the dismantling of public services nor the privatisation of state owned companies.

Business Investment (Somerset)

Adrian Flook: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what action the Government have taken to attract business to (a) Somerset and (b) Taunton since 1997.

Alan Johnson: In 1998 the Government launched the Regional Development Agencies and in 1999 the South West Regional Development Agency (SW RDA) was established. Prior to that the West of England Development Agency had responsibility for attracting inward investment to Somerset and Taunton.
	Since the inception of the RDA the Agency's Inward Investment team, working closely with the Somerset Local Strategic Partnership, has secured a number of successes bringing inward investors into Somerset.
	
		
			 Date Company Origin Location Cap Ex £(m) New Safe Partner Project Source 
		
		
			 Aug 1998 Edwards Pearson Holland Somerset 2 10 90 SEP 162 Direct 
			 Dec 1998 Logoplaste Portugal Bridgwater 6.00 70 0 SEP 463 INUK 
			 Aug 2000 Equitea Kenya Taunton 0.00 5  SEP 1123 INUK 
			  Flight Visions 
			 Nov 2000 UK Ltd USA Langport 0.02 5 0 SEP 1183 Direct 
			 Nov 2000 Chickmaster USA Bridgwater 1.00 0 70 SEP 524 INUK 
			   Singapore
			 Jul 2001 Seamap  Somerset 0.05 12 0 SEP 1108 Direct 
			 Total to date: 6 £9.07m 102 160   
		
	
	Somerset has also benefited from investment under the Single Regeneration Budget (£1.2m) and the Market and Coastal Towns Initiative (£50K).

Investment (Coventry)

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assistance has been given to manufacturing companies in Coventry since 1997.

Alan Johnson: holding answer 4 July 2002
	It is not feasible to cite details of individual grants that have been awarded to Coventry based manufacturing companies. However, the following grants and assistance have been available for all or part of the period in question:
	Regional Selective Assistance; Enterprise Grants; New SMART; SMART; SPUR; Regional Enterprise Grants—including Regional Innovation Grants and Regional Investment Grants; and the European funded "Accelerate" scheme. Additionally, modernisation and diversification support has been offered to businesses as a result of the recommendations of the Rover Task Force.

Farm Bill

John Battle: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what representations the EU is making to the US on the likely effects of the proposed Farm Bill; and if she will make a statement.

Patricia Hewitt: Both HMG and the Commission are in frequent dialogue with the US Government at all levels about the US Farm Bill (the "Farm Security and Rural Investment Act 2002"). We have made clear to the US Government our considerable disappointment with the Farm Bill, especially in the context of the Doha Development Agenda, which committed all WTO members to substantial reductions in trade-distorting support. The US believe the Farm Bill is compatible with their World Trade Organisation Commitments and have stressed their intention to remain fully engaged in the Doha negotiations. We will continue to strongly encourage them to do so.

Local Loop Unbundling Initiative

Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what her estimate is of the number of local loops that will have been unbundled by July; and what estimate she originally made when the local loop unbundling initiative was announced.

Stephen Timms: At the end of June 2002, over 600 lines had been unbundled. It is difficult to forecast how many unbundled local loops there will be by a given date as this is dependent on operators' own commercial rollout plans. Past attempts to forecast volumes of unbundled loops have proved unreliable for a number of reasons, not least the prevailing market conditions and the decision by operators to target the business rather than residential market.

Fraud

Nigel Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what representations she has received with regard to (a) introducing regulation in an attempt to prevent fraud by corporate executives, and (b) introducing penalties to further discourage fraud by corporate executives; and if she will make a statement.

Brian Wilson: The Government's White Paper, published on 16 July, in response to the Company Law Review includes a proposal for codification of directors' general duties, with civil remedies for breach of director's duties if a workable scheme can be devised. The White Paper also proposes extending the existing offence for misleading the auditors of a company and proposes a new duty on directors to volunteer information to auditors where such information is necessary for the performance of auditors' duties.
	In addition the Enterprise Bill provides for the introduction of criminal sanctions for individuals who enter into cartel agreements.

Foresight Projects

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on the crime prevention panel of the Foresight projects.

Patricia Hewitt: The Foresight Crime Prevention Panel was set up in April 1999 to run for three years. The Panel considered the likely developments in science, technology and society up to 20 years ahead and how these might impact on crime. The aim was to try and help UK Government, law enforcement, business, science and society prepare for the future.
	In December 2000 the Panel published a report "Turning the Corner" which included five key recommendations for change. The Panel spent until March 2002 taking forward these recommendations, the three key outputs were:
	a framework for a national e-crime strategy for the Home Office.
	a wide range of research projects. Many of these will assist the Home Office in its future strategy on business crime: the impact of crime on business; the scope for a crime-proofing code of practice for manufacturers; the incentives needed for the adoption of such a code; and the new crime threats from e-tailing.
	a benchmarking research project which reviewed scientific research on crime prevention in the UK and identified capability gaps. This has paved the way for proposals for a dedicated programme of scientific research, led by the Home Office, to support crime prevention.

Foresight Projects

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what plans she has for future funding of the Business Information Crime System operating under the Foresight initiative.

Brian Cotter: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what plans she has for future funding of the Business Information Crime System operating under the Foresight Initiative.

Patricia Hewitt: DTI has no current plans for further funding of the Business Information Crime System (BICS), beyond the life of the current BICS research project. The project is expected to complete by June 2003.

Foresight Projects

Brian Cotter: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on the crime prevention panel of the Foresight projects.

Patricia Hewitt: The Foresight Crime Prevention Panel was set up in April 1999 to run for three years. The Panel considered the likely developments in science, technology and society up to 20 years ahead and how these might impact on crime. The aim was to try and help UK Government, law enforcement, business, science and society prepare for the future.
	In December 2000 the Panel published a report "Turning the Corner" which included five key recommendations for change. The Panel spent until March 2002 taking forward these recommendations, the three key outputs were:
	a framework for a national e-crime strategy for the Home Office.
	a wide range of research projects. Many of these will assist the Home Office in its future strategy on business crime: the impact of crime on business; the scope for a crime-proofing code of practice for manufacturers; the incentives needed for the adoption of such a code; and the new crime threats from e-tailing.
	a benchmarking research project which reviewed scientific research on crime prevention in the UK and identified capability gaps. This has paved the way for proposals for a dedicated programme of scientific research, led by the Home Office, to support crime prevention.

Animal Testing (Cosmetics)

Colin Breed: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on the position Her Majesty's Government will take on the EU Cosmetics Directive at second reading and conciliation in the European Parliament.

Brian Wilson: At the Internal Market Consumers and Tourism Council on 26 November 2001 the UK voted in favour of the Common Position text. The Common Position text includes a marketing ban linked to Organisation for Economic Development and Cooperation (OECD) accepted and published alternatives to animal tests. The text also contains a full test ban for finished cosmetic products and a testing ban on ingredients once internationally validated alternatives to animal testing are available. The UK will enter conciliation discussions from this position. The Government's objective is to encourage the adoption of a text which takes account of the European Parliament's concerns in relation to animal welfare, and which is both consistent with our WTO obligations and designed to withstand challenges within the WTO.

Animal Testing (Cosmetics)

Colin Breed: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry for what reasons Her Majesty's Government voted against (a) a complete marketing ban on new animal-tested cosmetics and (b) a full ban on animal testing for cosmetics in the EU at the Council of Ministers; and if she will make a statement.

Brian Wilson: The reasons why the Government voted against (a) a complete marketing ban on new animal-tested cosmetics and (b) a full ban on animal testing for cosmetics in the EU in favour of the Council Common position text were set out by my hon. Friend the Minister for Competition, Consumers and Markets during the course of the debate in European Standing Committee C held on 13 March and published in the Parliamentary Debates Official Report of the same date. The Government's objective is to encourage the adoption of a text which takes account of the European Parliament's concerns in relation to animal welfare, and which is both consistent with our WTO obligations and designed to withstand challenges within the WTO.

Business Link Inquiry Service

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the operating costs have been of the Business Link Inquiry Service.

Nigel Griffiths: holding answer 22 July 2002
	Under the Small Business Service Gateway programme, small businesses are able to access business support services and advice via a number of channels—by calling the Business Link National Enquiry Line on 0845 600 9 006; by logging on to the www.businesslink.org website; or by directly contacting their local Business Link. These channels and the supporting IT systems and infrastructure became operational from April 2001 and are delivered collectively under a single managed service contract.
	The operating costs for the Business Link National Enquiry Line are part of the overall costs of the SBS Gateway programme. In the first year these consisted of a service charge of £3.75 million together with variable costs of approximately £770,000. Business Link Enquiry Service costs cannot be disaggregated from these figures.

Business Link Inquiry Service

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many inquiries per month the Business Link Inquiry Service has handled since its launch.

Nigel Griffiths: holding answer 22 July 2002
	From April 2001 the number of telephone enquiries has run at an average of 4,860 per month. From April 2002 with the introduction of the automated call routing technology monthly volumes are now averaging 4,980. The website www.businesslink.org receives 100,000–150,000 visits each month from more than 30,000 individuals. An average of 356 email enquiries per month are also received.
	Additionally, in the last year almost 43,000 clients per month were assisted by their local Business Link.

Strategic Training for Apparel and Textiles Programme

Judy Mallaber: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what action she is taking to secure the continuation of the Strategic Training for Apparel and Textiles programme after June 2002.

Stephen Timms: holding answer 24 July 2002
	The Strategic Training for Apparel and Textiles (STAT) programme offers financial support to companies in the textiles and clothing sectors towards the costs of training in support of strategic business change and is currently being funded by the Department for Work and Pensions.
	I am aware of a number of expressions of support from the industry for the programme to continue and the Department is currently in discussion with the Department for Education and Skills, which now has lead responsibility for training of the employed, to consider the case for a follow on programme.

Textile and Clothing Industry

Jimmy Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assistance has been given to the textile and clothing industry since 1997; what measures are in place to help the textile and clothing industry develop faster and more environmentally-friendly techniques; and what proposals her Department has to support the exports of the textiles and clothing industry's products.

Stephen Timms: The Government has provided almost £83 million of financial assistance to the UK textiles and clothing industry since May 1997, devoted to capital investment, innovation, exports, design and marketing, e-commerce, supply chain management, technical textiles and training and development. A key element of this assistance has been support for a Textiles and Clothing Industry Forum Adaptation programme, designed to improve the speed, efficiency and quality of the UK textile and clothing supply chain.
	The UK textiles and clothing industry has already capitalised on the DTI's BIO-WISE programme which encourages companies to exploit the environmental benefits of biotechnology and also the Envirowise programme which provides practical environmental advice to businesses, focusing on resource efficiency and clean technology measures. In collaboration with CBWT, (the Confederation of British Wool Textiles), DTI is supporting a project to predict the effect of textile chemicals on the aquatic environment aimed at reducing effluent emissions at source.
	Textile and clothing companies are eligible for the full range of export advice and assistance from Trade Partners UK, including assistance under the Support for Exhibitions and Seminars Abroad (SESA) scheme. This scheme helps them attend and exhibit at key overseas trade fairs and exhibitions. The value of support for clothing and textiles events under the SESA scheme in 2001–02 was £3,740,732.

End-Of-Life Vehicles

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry who will be responsible for the end-of-life vehicles from 2007 for cars that have (a) been stolen in foreign countries and imported into the UK where they are sold through the second hand market and (b) brought into the UK as grey imports; and if she will make a statement.

Brian Wilson: Final decisions have not yet been taken on the precise nature of the arrangements which will be introduced to implement the End-of-Life Vehicles Directive in the period from 2007. Those arrangements will need to deal properly with the totality of the vehicle waste stream in accordance with the terms of the Directive.

End-of-Life Vehicle Directive

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what plans she has to increase the (a) number and (b) capacity of centres that can be registered as approved to treat vehicles according to the End-of-Life Vehicle Directive; and if she will make a statement.

Brian Wilson: My right hon. Friend the Minister for the Environment intends to publish for consultation later in the year draft regulations relating to Article 6 of the Directive. These will set out a regime for operators to acquire the necessary permits to carry out treatment of end-of-life vehicles, and will transpose the requirements of Annex I of the Directive into national law.
	In time, only facilities permitted under this regime will be able to treat end-of-life vehicles and issue the "Certificates of Destruction" required by the Directive. As this network of facilities develops, we shall monitor closely its ability to deal properly with all end-of-life vehicles arising in the UK.

Motor Vehicle Distribution

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on the location ban clause in the European Commission's proposal for motor vehicle block exemption for motor vehicle distribution.

Brian Wilson: The European Commission adopted a new cars block exemption regulation on 17 July. The regulation will come into force on 1 October this year, but with a transitional period of one year for all provisions except that on the location clause ban. The introduction of this provision has been delayed until 1 October 2005.

Motor Vehicle Distribution

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on progress with the European Commission's proposals for a new motor vehicle block exemption for motor vehicle distribution.

Brian Wilson: The European Commission agreed a new block exemption for the sale of new cars and car servicing on Wednesday, 17 July. The new block exemption will replace the existing one, which is due to expire on 30 September this year, but will be subject to transitional arrangements.
	The Government has welcomed this improvement on the current regime. The reform should mean more choice and fairer prices for consumers, and greater competition and innovation in both the retail and after-sales sectors. The new block exemption is also good for business, with dealers being freer to determine how they run their businesses.
	While we very much welcome the changes on new car sales and on car servicing and repair, the delay in the introduction of the freedom for dealers to open in new locations, which will not come into effect until 2005, is disappointing. We would have liked this to happen sooner, as we made clear to the Commission. Nevertheless, we welcome the fact that it will happen automatically in 2005, without a further review.

Motor Vehicle Distribution

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry for what reason an explanatory memorandum on the new block exemption in relation to motor vehicle distribution was not produced before it was adopted by the Commission.

Brian Wilson: The motor vehicle block exemption is a European Commission regulation, not a Council of Ministers regulation. The Scrutiny Committees do not routinely scrutinise Commission measures, so documents relating to proposals for Commission legislation are not automatically deposited, and Departments are not expected to produce explanatory memoranda in every case. In this particular case, the Chairman of the House of Commons European Scrutiny Select Committee requested an explanatory memorandum on 3 July, and this was submitted to the Committee on 10 July.

Accountancy and Audit Regulator

Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry who the members of the co-ordinating Group on Audit and Accounting issues are; which organisations they represent; what their accountancy qualifications are; what accountancy bodies they belong to; what the dates of meetings are; what the accountancy connections are of individuals and parties they have invited to comment; and whether the minutes will be published.

Melanie Johnson: Details of the members of the Co-ordinating Group on Audit and Accounting issues and of the parties they invited to comment on their work are given in its Interim Report, which was published on 24 July 2002.
	These individuals were invited to be members of the Group by virtue of their roles in their organisations. No information is held about their qualifications or details of membership of particular bodies.
	The Group has met three times to date: on 11 April, 11 June and 17 July 2002. The minutes of its meetings will not be published. However, the Group's Interim Report has been published, and its Final Report will also be published in due course.

Mail Logistics Ltd.

Nigel Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what recent representations she has received on the activities of Mail Logistics Ltd.

Stephen Timms: The Department has received no such representations.

Galileo

Gerald Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what estimates have been made by her Department on the extent to which the Galileo satellite navigation system will duplicate services available under the Global Positioning System.

Patricia Hewitt: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to him by my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Transport on 24 July, Official Report, column 1270W.

Universal Bank

David Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what estimate she has made of the numbers of customers for the Universal Bank in (a) 2003, (b) 2004, (c) 2005, (d) 2006 and (e) 2007.

Stephen Timms: holding answer 18 July 2002
	The Government has an operating assumption of 3 million card accounts at the Post Office but there will be no cap and no eligibility criteria. Numbers could therefore vary according to customer demand and the systems are being designed to cope with a range of customer numbers.

Regional Aid

Judy Mallaber: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when a decision will be taken on the future of the enterprise grant tier 3 programme of regional aid.

Alan Johnson: The enterprise grant scheme is being considered as part of the wider review of DTI business support. Any further changes to the geographical coverage of the scheme will not be decided until after the end of the wider review.

Enterprises Initiatives

Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the percentage take up has been of each of her enterprise initiatives in the past three years.

Nigel Griffiths: DTI promotes enterprise and assists enterprises in many ways. These are set out in "The Government's Expenditure Plans report for 2002–03 to 2003–04" (Cmnd 5416).
	Business Link Operators (BLOs) assisted almost 245,000 separate businesses during 2001–02 this represents a penetration rate of almost 14 per cent. In addition, BLOs helped on average almost 21,000 pre-starts.
	Since October 1999, around 8,500 pre and early start businesses have received support from BLOs to assist them to reach their high growth potential.
	The Small Business Service supporting 96 Phoenix Development Fund projects in disadvantaged areas and amongst under-represented groups with a budget of £30 million. So far over 8,700 people have been assisted, enabling the start-up of over 400 new enterprises and creating or safeguarding more than 1,600 jobs.
	SBS has supported over 800 (a record number) new Smart projects this year, worth over £34 million. The Scheme provides grants to help research and develop technologically innovative products and processes or buy external consultancy to improve their use and exploitation of technology. Smart now contributes half a billion pounds to the economy annually (source: Smart Evaluation published October 2001); and
	Finally, The Small Firms Loan Guarantee Scheme, which offers guarantees on loans to small firms with viable business proposals that are unable to obtain conventional finance because they lack security to offer against a loan, passed the £3 billion lending mark earlier this year. Since the start of the Scheme in June 1981 over 81,000 loans have been guaranteed.
	A quarterly Management Information Report is routinely copied to the Libraries of the House. This report includes the remit and usage of all SBS enterprise initiatives.

Business Start-Ups

Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what has been the annual cost of initiatives to encourage new businesses in rural areas in each year since 1997.

Nigel Griffiths: The Small Business Service (SBS) is providing special help for start-ups and micro-businesses through the network of Business Link Operators. This includes businesses in rural areas.
	SBS is, spending £3 million over 2 years through the Development Fund For Rural Renewal, to help rural business communities that are hard hit by the outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease.
	Business Link Operators have provided access to a range of advice and support services on average to 100,00 different start-ups and established businesses per quarter in the last 3 years.
	Since October 1999, some 8,000 pre and early start businesses have received support from Business Link Operators to assist them in reaching their high growth potential.
	In 1998–99 SBS spent £103 million, in 1999–2000 £118 million, in 2000–01 £172 million and in 2001–02 £154 million, on Business Link programme expenditure in all areas. SBS will be spending over £164 million in 2002–03.
	We do not hold figures for 1997–98. These figures are from the Expenditure Plans Reports.

Graduate Businesses

Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many programmes her Department has initiated since 1997 aimed at encouraging graduates to establish their own businesses.

Nigel Griffiths: Since 1997, the DTI has initiated a comprehensive programme of support for knowledge transfer from the science base that includes amongst its objectives promotion of entrepreneurship and business awareness within universities, including encouraging graduates to establish their own businesses. The knowledge transfer programme includes:
	Science Enterprise Challenge—encouraging the teaching of entrepreneurship (established 1999)
	University Challenge—providing seed funding for commercialisation of research (established 1999)
	The Higher Education Innovation Fund—fostering links between universities and business (established 2001).
	These schemes are complemented by Research Council support and DTI programmes of longer standing, which strengthen links between universities and business and may lead indirectly to the establishment of new businesses.

Welsh Manufacturing

Adam Price: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what recent discussions she has had with her colleagues in the Welsh Assembly Government concerning Welsh manufacturing.

Alan Johnson: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry has had discussions with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Wales covering a wide range of issues, including manufacturing in Wales. He, in turn, has regular meetings with the First Minister of the Welsh Assembly Government. Officials from my Department and the Welsh Assembly Government have also had many discussions on matters of mutual interest, including manufacturing in Wales.

European Telecommunications Standards

Michael Jack: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what reports the Radio Agency has assessed about the role of members of the European Telecommunications Standards Institute's working group on Digital Information Standards activities which added value to Motorola Europe's patent applications in this field; and what implications this will have for the cost of future licence fees payable to Motorola.

Stephen Timms: The Radiocommunications Agency is a UK member of the European Telecommunications Standards Institute and in common with other members of ETSI, its responsibilities would not extend to carrying out an assessment of the role of other members of the group.

European Telecommunications Standards

Michael Jack: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on the implications for the UK digital communications industry of applications made by Motorola Europe supported by Motorola USA for patents on technologies offered to and adopted by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute's Digital Information Interchange Systems Standards group.

Stephen Timms: The Department of Trade and Industry supports the European Telecommunications Institute's policy on Intellectual Property Rights but is not in a position to comment upon the impact of patent rights belonging to individual companies. However, the Radiocommunications Agency is aware of discussions currently taking place within ETSI on the value of essential IPR in a standard and the value of contributions given by members in the development of those standards. The Digital Information Interchange Systems project is seen as a means to promote spectrum efficiency within the Private Business Radio Industry and the Agency would wish to see it develop for the benefit of industry, manufacturers and the users of business radio.

European Telecommunications Standards

Michael Jack: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what reports the Radio Agency has assessed on Motorola Europe's licence fee policy for the use of the common technologies employed in pursuit of DIIS standards.

Stephen Timms: It is not the role of the Radiocommunications Agency to assess the commercial practice of companies or organisations in their operation of fees policy relating to Intellectual Property Rights held by those organisations.

European Telecommunications Standards

Michael Jack: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on the implications of recent Motorola Europe patent activity for the prospects for the participation of small-scale UK-owned telecommunications companies involved in the creation of the European Telecommunications Standards.

Stephen Timms: The Department of Trade and Industry supports the European Telecommunications Institute's policy on Intellectual Property Rights that has been established for some time but is not in a position to comment upon the impact of patent rights belonging to individual companies. However, the DTI supports moves towards digital technology and would encourage all companies, not least small companies, to take advantage of opportunities arising from the introduction of this technology.

European Telecommunications Standards

Michael Jack: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what reports the Radio Agency has assessed about the Chairman of the European Telecommunications Standards Institute's work in establishing Motorola Europe's role in the authorship and application for patents for the technologies applicable to companies in the Digital Information Interchange Standards group.

Stephen Timms: The Radiocommunications Agency is a UK member of the European Telecommunications Standards Institute and in common with other members of ETSI, its responsibilities would not extend to carrying out an assessment of reports relating to the work of a Chairman of an ETSI group in this respect.

Broadband

Adrian Flook: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what initiatives her Department has to extend the availability of broadband internet provision to rural Somerset; and if she will make a statement.

Stephen Timms: We are working with the Broadband Stakeholder Group to help industry increase availability and take-up of broadband throughout the country.
	As part of this strategy, we have provided £30 million to the RDAs and DAs to help develop innovative solutions for extending networks into areas considered commercially unattractive. The South West RDA received £3.78 million for such projects, details of which can be found on the DTI web site.
	On top of this we are acting to improve the business case for service providers in rural areas by examining how the public sector can most effectively procure its own broadband. On June 26, I announced my intention to establish a new Regional Broadband Unit. Its purpose will be to stimulate economic development and enhance the delivery of public services through extending broadband services at the regional and local level.

Broadband

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what percentage of households in the Portsmouth, South constituency have access to broadband lines; and if she will make a statement.

Patricia Hewitt: Broadband services by one or more of ADSL, cable and wireless are available to around 66 per cent. of the population. Satellite broadband is available throughout the country.
	A map showing geographical availability of broadband services can be found in the UK Online Annual Report [http://www.e-envoy.gov.uk/ukonline/champions/anrep–menu.htm].

Broadband

Virginia Bottomley: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what percentage of homes can access ADSL broadband services; and what plans she has to ensure an increase in ADSL broadband services.

Patricia Hewitt: At the end of May 2002, ADSL was available to 66 per cent. of households. We are working with the Broadband Stakeholder Group to help industry increase availability and take-up of broadband in general.
	As part of this strategy, we have provided £30 million to the RDAs and DAs to help develop innovative solutions for extending networks into areas considered commercially unattractive. On top of this we are acting to improve the business case for service providers in rural areas by examining how the public sector can most effectively procure its own broadband.
	As a result of the Government's policy of promoting greater competition in broadband services, prices for broadband in the UK are now as cheap as in France, Germany and the US, following recent wholesale price cuts. Taking DSL alone, prices fell by 39 per cent. between January and June, meaning that UK prices are cheaper for DSL than in France and Germany.
	More recently, I announced my intention to establish a new Regional Broadband Unit. Its purpose will be to stimulate economic development and enhance the delivery of public services through extending broadband services at the regional and local level.

OFCOM

George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether the consultancy work being carried out by Towers-Perrin into the structure of OFCOM for her Department was put out to competitive tender; and if she will make a statement.

Stephen Timms: A consortium of consultants, led by Towers Perrin and assisted by Ernst and Young and Differentis, is currently working on a wide range of organisational issues, including OFCOM's structure, as part of the preparations for the new regulator. This work was subject to full competitive tender in line with Government and EC requirements, following publication of a Notice in the Official Journal of the European Communities. The outcome of the tendering process was also published in the Official Journal.

OFCOM

George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what consultation is taking place with the radio industry about the future structure of OFCOM.

Stephen Timms: The radio industry is engaged in regular meetings with the Communications Bill Team and the existing communications regulators and has had informal discussion with the OFCOM Transition Team. Formal consultation on OFCOM structure and other organisational arrangements will be a matter for the OFCOM Chairman and Board, once they are in post.

Newspaper Circulation

Chris Mullin: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, pursuant to her answer of 18 July, ref. 70135, what information she has on the percentage of circulation that the five leading newspaper groups hold in (a) regional evening papers, (b) regional morning papers, (c) local weeklies and (d) local weekly freesheets.

Melanie Johnson: The available information is as follows:
	
		
			 Company Total sales or distribution per week (per cent.) Daily or Sunday titles sales or distribution per week (per cent.) Weekly titles sales or distribution per week (per cent.) 
		
		
			 Trinity Mirror 24.0 24.3 23.6 
			 DMGT 21.3 31.2 9.0 
			 Gannett 14.1 8.7 20.7 
			 Johnston Press 7.7 4.7 11.4 
			 RIM 4.6 5.3 3.7 
			 Total 71.7 74.2 68.4 
		
	
	Source:
	Table 3.1 "Top 20 publishers of regional/local newspapers in the UK, 2001", from the Competition Commission's report "Johnston Press plc and Trinity Mirror plc: A report into the proposed merger", Cm 5495, May 2002. Since the data were compiled, Johnston Press has acquired RIM.

Periodicals

Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what recent representations she has received from the Periodical Publishers' Association on proposed changes in the charging system for postage of periodicals.

Stephen Timms: The Periodical Publisher's Association wrote to me on 19 July. Changes to the charging system for postage are a commercial matter for Consignia within the regulatory framework laid down in the Postal Services Act 2001. I understand that the Association is in discussion with the company on this issue.
	Consignia undertook the consultation with customers and trade associations about the introduction of a new pricing system which takes into account the size of an item and I understand that the company is now assessing the responses to the consultation. If the company does wish to proceed, it will make a submission to the Postal Services Commission and the postal consumer body, Postwatch. The Commission will have to approve any proposals and will follow their own consultation process before agreeing to any major changes in the way mail is priced.

National Transmission System

Alex Salmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what representations she has made to Ofgem with regards to the proposed changes to the auction system for capacity to the National Transmission System at St Fergus.

Brian Wilson: The arrangements for allocating entry capacity into the National Transmission System are specified in Transco's Network Code. The Network Code is the property of Transco and the shippers for which Transco conveys gas; it is regulated by Ofgem, which adjudicates on proposed amendments to the Code. My Department has regular contacts with Transco, shippers and Ofgem, to discuss Network Code matters of common interest. The details of such discussions are commercially confidential.

Digital Services

Nigel Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what (a) conditions and (b) restrictions will be placed on the BBC and Crown Castle in their promotion of digital television via marketing strategies.

Kim Howells: I have been asked to reply.
	This is a matter for the ITC and the BBC's Board of Governors and is subject also to the provisions of UK and EU competition policy.

Benefit Payments

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what research has been compiled on the cost savings relating to the changeover of benefit payments from payment book to ACT; with what results; and if she will make a statement.

Stephen Timms: holding answer 22 July 2002
	I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to him on 23 July 2002, Official Report, column 806W by the Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions.

Corruption

John Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry on what date the ECGD obtained the judgment by Judge Cullinan in Lesotho in the bribery case against Masupha Sole; and how they obtained it.

Patricia Hewitt: ECGD received a copy of the Judgement on 3 July 2002. This was obtained by the British High Commission in Maseru from the Secretary to Justice Cullinan

Corruption

John Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many allegations of corruption the ECGD has received, and how many of these allegations it has referred to, the (a) Serious Fraud Office, (b) National Criminal Intelligence Service and (c) Scotland Yard in the last three years.

Patricia Hewitt: In the last three years ECGD has received three allegations of corruption, and one has been referred to the SFO. None has been referred to NCIS or Scotland Yard.

Corruption

John Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if the ECGD has investigated bribery allegations in the deal it between BAe Systems and the Government of Qatar; and whether it has referred this case to the relevant external investigatory body.

Patricia Hewitt: No allegations have been received by ECGD, although the Department is aware of allegations in the press. Matters connected with these assertions were investigated by the Jersey authorities and ECGD responded to enquiries made of it by the Jersey authorities.

Bujagali Dam (Uganda)

John Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if the ECGD received an application from the company, NOR-ICIL in relation to the Bujagali Dam in Uganda; and if she will make a statement.

Patricia Hewitt: ECGD has no record of any application for cover in respect of the Bujagali Dam and has issued no guarantees in respect of the project.

Bujagali Dam (Uganda)

John Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry on what grounds the application to the ECGD for support for the Bujagali Dam in Uganda was refused.

Patricia Hewitt: ECGD has no record of any application for cover in respect of the Bujagali Dam and has issued no guarantees in respect of the project.

Bujagali Dam (Uganda)

John Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what corruption allegations the ECGD were informed of at the time of the application for support for the Bujagali Dam in Uganda; and whether such allegations involved British companies.

Patricia Hewitt: ECGD has no record of any applications for cover in respect of the Bujagali Dam and has issued no guarantees in respect of the project.

Bujagali Dam (Uganda)

John Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry which company was the lead contractor on the application made to the ECGD for the Bujagali Dam in Uganda.

Patricia Hewitt: ECGD has no record of any application for cover in respect of the Bujagali Dam and has issued no guarantees in respect of the project.

Bujagali Dam (Uganda)

John Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether NOR-ICIL was named as a contractor on an application she received with regard to the Bujagali Dam in Uganda.

Patricia Hewitt: ECGD has no record of any application for cover in respect of the Bujagali Dam and has issued no guarantees in respect of the project.

Anglo-Irish Ministerial Meetings

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when and where Ministers in her Department have held meetings with Ministers and officials of the Irish Government since 1 June 2000; which Ministers were involved in each meeting; which Irish Government Departments were involved in each meeting; and which Ministers and officials from the Irish Government attended each meeting.

Patricia Hewitt: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given by my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary on 20 June, Official Report, column 533W.

Ministerial Meetings

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many formal and official inter-ministerial meetings her Department has held with the Scottish Executive since May 1999, broken down by (a) Scottish Executive department, (b) subject and (c) date.

Patricia Hewitt: holding answer 24 July 2002
	There are regular and frequent meetings between my Department and the Scottish Executive, at both Ministerial and official levels, on policy issues which touch on matters which fall within the responsibilities of the Scottish Executive.

Your Guide Pilot

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when the Government's evaluation of the Your Guide pilot will be completed; and if she will make a statement.

Stephen Timms: The final evaluation was completed on time at the end of June and was published on 23 July.

Petrol Retailers

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many petrol retailers (a) are in operation and (b) have been closed and sealed since 1990, broken down by (i) oil company sites, (ii) main retailer sites, (iii) supermarket sites, (iv) smaller retailer sites and (v) other unbranded sites; and if she will make a statement.

Brian Wilson: holding answer 24 July 2002
	There were 12,201 petrol retailers operating at the end of last year (2001) compared with 19,465 sites in 1990.
	Total sites closed since 1990 is 7,264, of which 5,085 are oil company sites, while 1,452 are from the main retailers.
	No supermarket sites have closed, as they have been steadily increasing in numbers. We do not have a breakdown between categories smaller retailer and unbranded sites, however the total for this category is 727.
	The data used were from the Institute of petroleum (IP) annual "UK Retail Marketing Survey" (last published in March of this year).

University Business Start-Ups

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what information she collated on the performance of the companies that were spun out of universities in 1999–2000.

Patricia Hewitt: The first survey of Higher Education Business Interaction carried out in 2001 showed that 199 companies were spun out from universities in the academic year 1999–2000, compared to an average of 70 each year for the previous 5 years. In 1999–2000, UK universities identified one spinout for every £8.6 million of research expenditure, compared with one spinout for every £13.9 million in Canadian Universities in 1999, and one spinout for every £53.1 million in the US. The Survey also covered employment, turnover and equity value of spinouts established by universities but responses were incomplete and raised concerns about the burden associated with collecting this data. A modified second survey currently underway seeks a build on data previously collected to provide a more systematic overview of exploitation performance across the higher education sector.

Science and Discovery Centres

Doug Naysmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what discussions she has had with other Departments about the funding of science and discovery centres; and if she will make a statement.

Patricia Hewitt: holding answer 24 July 2002
	My noble Friend the Minister for the Arts at DCMS called a meeting to discuss science and discovery centres on 18 July 2002 with my noble Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State with responsibility for Science and Innovation and my noble Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State with responsibility for Early Years and School Standards at DfES.

Science and Discovery Centres

Doug Naysmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what plans she has to assist the funding of science and discovery centres; and if she will make a statement.

Patricia Hewitt: holding answer 24 July 2002
	The Government has currently no plans to assist the funding of science and discovery centres. The Millennium Commission, together with the Wellcome Trust and the Wolfson Foundation, on Monday launched a £33 million fund for science centres and museums to allow them to renew or replace high quality science, education and technology exhibitions.

Biotechnology Research Projects

Alan Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what biotechnology research projects in (a) agriculture and (b) biomedics have been supported by her Department; and what level of public investment has gone into them in each of the last three years.

Patricia Hewitt: DTI has not funded any biotechnology research projects in agriculture. The Department has provided £5 million of funding under the Applied Genomics LINK programme, which was launched in 2000, together with £10 million funding from the Research Councils, to assist the exploitation of genomics for healthcare applications. In addition, a substantial part of the £25 million Harnessing Genomics programme, launched by DTI in 2001, is providing support for industrially relevant R and D in key underpinning technology areas, including bioinformatics and nanobiotechnology.

Miners' Compensation

Paddy Tipping: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the (a) minimum, (b) maximum and (c) average final compensation settlements made to date in respect of (i) VWF and (ii) COPD are.

Brian Wilson: The figures are:
	
		
			 Full and Final Settlement COPD VWF 
		
		
			 Minimum £5 £200 
			 Maximum £372,115 £53,185 
			 Average £6,823 £7,687

Abandoned Vehicles

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many cars were recorded as having been (a) abandoned and (b) scrapped in each of the last three years; and if she will make a statement.

Brian Wilson: Local authorities are responsible for dealing with abandoned vehicles and DEFRA currently holds no central records of the number of vehicles abandoned each year. However, it estimates that some 350,000 were abandoned in the United Kingdom in 2000. Information on the number of abandoned vehicles removed by local authorities has been collected for the first time in DEFRA's 2000–01 Municipal Waste Management Survey which will be published in August.
	In its three most recent annual reports, the Automotive Consortium on Recycling and Disposal (ACORD) has estimated that the following numbers of vehicles were scrapped: 1.8 million (1998), 1.8 million (1999), 2.0 million (2000).

Telephone Exchanges

Adrian Flook: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry which telephone exchanges in Somerset have been converted to DSL; and what plans there are to convert the remaining exchanges.

Stephen Timms: At the end of May 2002, ADSL was available to 66 per cent. of households in the UK. A map showing geographical availability of broadband services by one or more of ADSL, cable, wireless and satellite can be found in the UK Online Annual Report [http://www.e-envoy.gov.uk/ukonline/champions/anrep–menu.htm].
	We are working with the Broadband Stakeholder Group to help industry increase availability and take-up of broadband throughout the country. As part of this strategy, we have provided £30 million to the RDAs and DAs to help develop innovative solutions for extending networks into areas considered commercially unattractive.
	We are acting to improve the business case for service providers in rural areas by examining how the public sector can most effectively procure its own broadband. On June 26, I announced my intention to establish a new Regional Broadband Unit. Its purpose will be to stimulate economic development and enhance the delivery of public services through extending broadband services at the regional and local level.

Telecommunications Masts

Phil Sawford: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many telecommunications masts in the United Kingdom there are; and what measures are taken by the Telecommunications Agency to ensure that these are mapped and recorded.

Stephen Timms: There are approximately 26,000 transmitter sites in the UK. The "Sitefinder" Mobile Phone Base Station Database at www.sitefinder.radio.gov.uk is a national database of mobile phone base stations and their emissions. The database is managed by the Radiocommunications Agency, an Executive Agency of the Department of Trade and Industry, on behalf of Government. The database provides information on all operational, externally sited, cellular radio transmitters in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
	The database is updated every three months from information provided by the cellular operators. It should be noted that only operational transmitters, i.e. those that are actually transmitting, are included on the database. Consequently, sites that are currently going through the planning process, are in the process of being built, or are yet to be switched on, will not be found on the database.

Telecommunications Masts

Phil Sawford: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will establish a nationwide audit of telecommunications masts.

Stephen Timms: Last year the Rdiocommunications Agency completed an audit across the UK of 100 masts on school grounds. This year they are carrying out a further audit of masts near to schools and hospitals. Details of the audit and results for last year and those completed so far this year are available on the Agency's website at www.sitefinder.radio.gov.uk. The audit results indicate in every case levels of radiation far below those specified in the guidelines of the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection

Compulsory Purchase Orders

Debra Shipley: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many compulsory purchase orders each regional development agency is helping to promote; what the total gap funding is each has awarded; and what the total investment of each has been in direct development in each year since their formation.

Alan Johnson: Most RDAs do not promote their own Compulsory Purchase Orders (CPOs), and therefore there is no associated gap funding or investment, although this may change in the future. The exceptions are South of England Development Agency (SEEDA), London Development Agency (LDA) and North West Development Agency (NWDA).
	For SEEDA, the number of CPOs is one (with no gap funding nor any investment in development yet).
	For LDA, there are no CPOs yet (with no gap funding nor any investment in development), but two CPOs are being considered.
	For NWDA, three CPOs have been made (total gap funding of £2.4 million and a total investment of £2.7 million over the years 1999 to 2002) and a further two CPOs are being considered.

Privatised Utilities

Theresa May: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what recent representations she has received from (a) the DTLR, (b) the SRA, (c) the Office of the Rail Regulator and (d) train operating companies with regard to the Government's policy towards the independence of the economic regulators of the privatised utilities.

Brian Wilson: None.

Minimum Wage

Dave Watts: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many cases of employers breaking the minimum wage regulations were reported in the last two years.

Alan Johnson: The number of employers found not to be paying the minimum wage in the last two years is as follows:
	
		
			 Year  
		
		
			 2000–01 2,119 
			 2001–02 1,937

Minimum Wage

Dave Watts: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry 
	(1)  what plans she has to increase the level of penalties for employers who fail to comply with the minimum wage legislation;
	(2)  what the maximum penalty is that can be imposed on employers who fail to comply with the minimum wage legislation;
	(3)  what the average penalty imposed on employees was who failed to comply with the minimum wage legislation in the last 12 months;
	(4)  how many employers have been reported for forcing their employees to work unpaid hours beyond their contracts in the last 12 months; and what the maximum penalties are that can be imposed in such cases.

Alan Johnson: The Inland Revenue enforces the national minimum wage on behalf of the Department of Trade and Industry.
	Under the National Minimum Wage Act 1998, Inland Revenue compliance officers can issue penalty notices where businesses have failed to comply with an enforcement notice in respect of the minimum wage. Penalty notices impose a financial penalty equal to twice the hourly amount of the main minimum wage rate per worker, for each day of non-payment of the minimum wage from the date that the enforcement notice was issued. Each time the main minimum wage rate is increased, the level of penalties is therefore also increased. There is no upper limit on the penalty that can be imposed on an employer.
	In the year ended 31 March 2002, sixty-five Penalty Notices were issued for a total of £95,804, giving an average penalty of £1,973.90. No separate information is held on the number of minimum wage cases where employees were found to be working beyond their contracted hours.

Part-Time Workers Directive

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the (a) one off administration costs and (b) ongoing recurring costs to May 2002 for the Part-Time Workers Directive were; and if she will make a statement.

Alan Johnson: The Part-time Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2000 came into force on 1 July 2000, transposing the Part-time Work Directive into British law. Under the Regulatory Impact Assessment for the Regulations which the Government published at the time, total recurring costs were estimated to be £27.4 million per year. The one off administration costs were estimated to be negligible.

Employment Law

Dave Watts: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what plans she has to review the resources available for employment rights enforcement.

Alan Johnson: In October 2001, along with the Lord Chancellor, the Secretary of State announced a joint Taskforce to make recommendations on how the Employment Tribunal system can be made more efficient and cost effective. Their terms of reference include advising on the need for new investment to meet any revised service objectives and performance measures. The Taskforce have just delivered their report, which the Secretary of State is publishing today. We are now considering their recommendations, including the resource implications.
	In addition, on 11 July 2002 the Secretary of State also announced a review of the operation of the Employment Relations Act 1999. This will look at the operation of the law as regards the institutions which enforce employment rights in this area.

Employment Law

Dave Watts: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what plans she has to increase penalties for breaches of employment law.

Alan Johnson: The Employment Act 2002 provides that employment tribunals must normally vary any award made under the main jurisdictions where there is a failure on the part of either party to complete a statutory dispute resolution procedure before a tribunal application is made. The Act also provides that penalties will be increased under the main jurisdictions if an employee's written statement of employment particulars is absent or deficient. These provisions will be implemented in due course.
	Limits on various payments and employment tribunal awards are varied each year in line with any changes in the Retail Prices Index, in accordance with the provisions of the Employment Relations Act 1999. In line with our previous commitments, on 11 July 2002 the Secretary of State announced a review of the operation of this Act

Sexual Harrassment

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps she takes to ensure that women at work have suitable avenues to report sexual harrassment.

Patricia Hewitt: The Government take the issue of sexual harassment very seriously. In employment law it is well established that sexual harassment constitutes a form of detriment under the Sex Discrimination Act.
	Reporting instances of sexual harassment can be channelled through managers, personnel officers or trade union representatives. Many employers also appoint sexual harassment counsellors who are specially trained to deal with complaints.
	The Government have published leaflets for employers and employees on how to avoid, how to report, and how to deal with sexual harassment. Guidance for women and men on how to report and deal with instances of sexual harassment is also available from the Equal Opportunities Commission, and the Equal Opportunities Commission can help individuals bring a complaint.

Equal Pay

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what measures are in place to ensure that women are paid the same as men when they are in the same job.

Patricia Hewitt: The Equal Pay Act 1970 makes it unlawful for an employer to pay a woman less than a man for the same job, a job rated as equivalent or a job of equal value. The Act applies equally to men and women. A booklet about the Act is available from the Government.
	The Equal Opportunities Commission's (EOC) Code of Practice on Equal Pay provides practical guidance and recommends good practice to employers. It is a statutory Code, and can be referred to in Tribunal evidence.
	The EOC was given extra funding to develop an Equal Pay Toolkit, aimed at helping employers to carry out pay reviews. The kit was launched on the 4 of July.
	We have made funding available to Trade Unions to train their representatives to negotiate on equal pay issues in the workplace.
	The Employment Act (2002) provides a new power to introduce an Equal Pay Questionnaire into the Equal Pay Act. The questionnaire procedure will help women who think they may not be receiving equal pay to request key information from their employers before deciding whether to institute proceedings. We will be consulting interested parties on the design and content of the form later this year.

Equal Pay

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what action can be taken against companies that do not enforce an equal pay policy.

Patricia Hewitt: The Equal Pay Act 1970 imposes an obligation to pay men and women equally for the same work, work rated as equivalent and work of equal value. While employers are not legally required to have an equal pay policy, we encourage voluntary pay reviews through, for example, the Castle Awards and the Fair Pay Champions.
	Individuals who feel they are suffering pay discrimination on the basis of their gender are entitled to take a case to an employment tribunal under the Equal Pay Act.
	The Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC), which helps to enforce sex discrimination and equal pay legislation, has the power to conduct formal investigations, and to issue non-discrimination notices where, in the course of a formal investigation, it is satisfied that the Equal Pay Act is not being complied with. The EOC also has the power to provide financial or other assistance to applicants bringing a case under the Equal Pay Act and to seek preliminary findings as to whether there may have been an infringement of the Act, and apply for an injunction to restrain persistent discrimination.

Employee Regulations

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what percentage of (a) businesses and (b) employees would be excluded if those firms with up to 10 employees were exempted from regulation; and if she will make a statement.

Nigel Griffiths: Data are available for businesses with 0–9 employees at the start of 2000. The figures are for all types of regulations, including fire.
	
		Contribution of micro sized (0–9 employees) businesses -- (per cent., 2000)
		
			 Businesses Employees 
		
		
			 95.0 17.3 
		
	
	Source:
	Small and Medium Enterprise (SME)
	Statistics for the United Kingdom 2000,
	Small Business Service.
	Regulations are drawn up to address specific issues. There are already a number of regulations that exempt small companies. Such exclusions are looked at on a case by case basis, and not necessarily by size of company but also turnover and other measures.
	Blanket exclusions can cause their own problems when companies exceed the threshold they are expected to comply with all regulations at once.

SMEs

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many employees are employed in the UK in (a) small, (b) medium sized enterprises and (c) in total; and if she will make a statement.

Nigel Griffiths: The latest figures relate to the start of 2000 and include full-time and part-time employment.
	
		Employment (thousands, start 2000)
		
			 Small (0–49 employees) Medium (50–249 employees) Total 
		
		
			 9,650 2,536 22,132 
		
	
	Source:
	Small and Medium Enterprise (SME)
	Statistics for the United Kingdom 2000,
	Small Business Service.

Working Time Directive

Peter Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many breaches of the EC Working Time Directive have been recorded to date in (a) the United Kingdom and (b) Scotland.

Alan Johnson: We do not record "breaches", but we do collate figures relating to enquiries and complaints:
	The ACAS helpline currently receives over 5,000 working time calls during a year
	The Employment Tribunal Service Annual Report for 2001–02 showed that, during the period, the Employment Tribunal Service disposed of 1,632 cases that were specifically concerned with the working time entitlements (rest and paid annual leave). 169 (10 per cent.) were successful and 495 (30 per cent.) were ACAS conciliated settlements.
	Since the introduction of the Working Time Regulations in 1998 (up to March this year), the Health and Safety Executive Working Time officers have dealt with 685 complaints and completed 469 investigations on the working time and night work limits. Local authority Environmental Health Departments have recorded one successful prosecution over the past two years
	These figures relate specifically to GB (there are separate Regulations for Northern Ireland). There is no individual breakdown currently available for Scotland.

Machinery

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when the EU Standing Committee on the approximation of the laws of the member States relating to machinery is next due to meet; whether representatives of the Scottish Executive (a) have been and (b) are members of it; and if she will make a statement.

Patricia Hewitt: It is my understanding that the hon. Member is referring to the Standing Committee set up under Article 6.2 of Directive 98/37/EC on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to machinery. It is anticipated that the above Committee will meet later in the year, however, dates have not been set. The UK is represented by officials from the Department of Trade and Industry. They are supported by a technical expert from the Health and Safety Executive. The Scottish Executive is regularly consulted on, and is fully involved in, discussions at official and Ministerial level with the Department on the formulation of EU policy which touch on matters which fall within the responsibilities of the Scottish Executive.

ACMs

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the mandate of the Committee for the Adaptation to Technical Progress of the Directive on the Removal of Technical Barriers to Trade in Pressure Vessels is; how many times it has met over the last 12 months; what the UK representation on it is; what the annual cost of its work is to public funds; if she will list the items currently under its consideration; if she will take steps to increase its accountability and transparency to Parliament; and if she will make a statement.

Patricia Hewitt: It is assumed that the question concerns the provisions of the Directive on the harmonisation of the laws of the Member States relating to simple pressure vessels 87/404/EEC. There is no provision for such a Committee in that directive.

EU Committees

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when the EU Committee on the implementation of projects promoting co-operation and commercial relations between the European Union and the industrialised countries of North America, the Far East and Australasia is next due to meet; whether representatives of the Scottish Executive have been members of it; and if she will make a statement.

Patricia Hewitt: The EU Committee on the implementation of projects promoting cooperation and commercial relations between the European Union and the industrialised countries of North America, the Far East and Australia is next due to meet on 24 July 2002. Relations with the European Union are the responsibility of the Parliament and Government of the United Kingdom, as Member State. The Scottish Executive is regularly consulted on, and is fully involved in discussions, at official and Ministerial level, on the formulation of EU policy which touch on matters which fall within the responsibilities of the Scottish Executive.

EU Committees

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when the EU Advisory Committee on common rules for imports of products from third countries is next due to meet; whether representatives of the Scottish Executive have been members of it; and if she will make a statement.

Patricia Hewitt: I refer to the reply I gave to the hon. Member for Buckingham (Mr. Bercow) on 21 May 2002, Official Report, columns 232–33W.
	The Scottish Executive is regularly consulted on, and is fully involved in discussions, at official and Ministerial level, with the Department on the formulation of EU policy which touch on matters which fall within the responsibilities of the Scottish Executive.

EU Committees

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when the EU Advisory Committee on protection against dumped imports is next due to meet; whether representatives of the Scottish Executive have been members of it; and if she will make a statement.

Patricia Hewitt: I refer to the reply I gave to the hon. Member for Buckingham (Mr. Bercow) on 22 May 2002, Official Report, column 389W.
	The Scottish Executive is regularly consulted on, and is fully involved in discussions, at official and Ministerial level, with the Department on the formulation of EU policy which touch on matters which fall within the responsibilities of the Scottish Executive.

EU Committees

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when the EU Committee on defence against obstacles to trade which effect the market of the Community or a non-member country is next due to meet, whether representatives of the Scottish Executive have been members of it; and if she will make a statement.

Patricia Hewitt: I refer to the reply I gave to the hon. Member for Buckingham (Mr. Bercow) on 21 May 2002, Official Report, column 230W.
	The Scottish Executive is regularly consulted on, and is fully involved in discussions, at official and Ministerial level, with the Department on the formulation of EU policy which touch on matters which fall within the responsibilities of the Scottish Executive.

EU Committees

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when the EU Advisory Committee on protection against subsidised imports is next due to meet; whether representatives of the Scottish Executive have been members of it; and if she will make a statement.

Patricia Hewitt: I refer to the reply I gave to the hon. Member for Buckingham (Mr. Bercow) on 22 May 2002, Official Report, column 389W.
	The Scottish Executive is regularly consulted on, and is fully involved in discussions, at official and Ministerial level, with the Department on the formulation of EU policy which touch on matters which fall within the responsibilities of the Scottish Executive.

EU Committees

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when the EU Textile Committee (conventional regime) is next due to meet; whether representatives of the Scottish Executive have been members of it; and if she will make a statement.

Patricia Hewitt: I refer to the reply I gave to the hon. Member for Buckingham (Mr. Bercow) on 22 May 2002, Official Report, column 388W.
	The Scottish Executive is regularly consulted on, and is fully involved in discussions, at official and Ministerial level, with the Department on the formulation of EU policy which touch on matters which fall within the responsibilities of the Scottish Executive.

EU Committees

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when the EU Coordinating Group for the Community regime for the control of exports of dual-use goods is next due to meet; whether representatives of the Scottish Executive have been members of it; and if she will make a statement.

Patricia Hewitt: No date has yet been fixed for the next meeting of the Co-ordination Group for the Community Regime for the Control of Exports of Dual-Use Items and Technology.
	The Scottish Executive is regularly consulted on, and is fully involved in discussions, at official and Ministerial level, with the Department on the formulation of EU policy which touch on matters which fall within the responsibilities of the Scottish Executive.

EU Committees

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when the EU Standing Committee on technical rules and standards, including rules relating to information society services is next due to meet; whether representatives of the Scottish Executive (a) have been and (b) are members of it; and if he will make a statement.

Patricia Hewitt: The Committee on Standards and Technical Regulations is next due to meet on 30 October 2002. The UK is normally represented by one or two officials from the Department of Trade and Industry. The Scottish Executive is regularly consulted on, and is fully involved in discussions, at official and Ministerial level, on the formulation of EU policy which touch on matters which fall within the responsibilities of the Scottish Executive.

EU Committees

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when the EU Committee for management of generalised preferences is next due to meet; whether representatives of the Scottish Executive have been members of it; and if she will make a statement.

Patricia Hewitt: The Committee last met on 3 June 2002. There are currently no plans for it to meet in the near future. The UK is normally represented by officials from the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). As the EU's Generalised System of Preferences Scheme is an international trade issue, the DTI delegates at this committee represent all of the UK. The Scottish Executive is regularly consulted on, and is fully involved in discussions, at official and Ministerial level, on the formulation of EU policy which touch on matters which fall within the responsibilities of the Scottish Executive.

EU Committees

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when the EU Committee for the harmonisation of credit insurance provisions for transactions with medium- and long-term cover is next due to meet; whether representatives of the Scottish Executive have been members of it; and if she will make a statement.

Patricia Hewitt: The Committee for the harmonisation of the main provisions concerning export credit insurance for transactions with medium and long-term cover is a comitology committee covering the work of the European Council Working Group on Export Credits.
	Comitology procedures only exist for a very limited number of issues, the committee meets on an ad hoc basis and the committee has had no reason to meet in the past twelve months. We are unable to anticipate if or when it might be required to meet in future.
	If a meeting of the committee was convened, the UK would be represented by our delegation to the Council Working Group comprising officials from the Export Credits Guarantee Department. The Scottish Executive is regularly consulted on, and is fully involved in discussions, at official and Ministerial level, on the formulation of EU policy which touch on matters which fall within the responsibilities of the Scottish Executive.

EU Committees

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when the EU Advisory Committee on standardisation in the field of information technology is next due to meet; whether representatives of the Scottish Executive (a) have been and (b) are members of it; and if she will make a statement.

Patricia Hewitt: The Advisory Committee on Standardisation in the field of Information Technology (SOGITS) has not met for over two years and there are no issues under consideration at present. Discussions are taking place to reactivate this Committee. The UK is normally represented by an official from the Department of Trade and Industry. The Scottish Executive is regularly consulted on, and is fully involved in discussions, at official and Ministerial level, on the formulation of EU policy which touch on matters which fall within the responsibilities of the Scottish Executive.

EU Committees

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when the EU Standing Committee for the approximation of the laws of the Member States concerning pressure equipment is next due to meet; what the UK representation on it is; whether representatives of the Scottish Executive (a) have been and (b) are members of it; and if he will make a statement.

Patricia Hewitt: Provision for such a Standing Committee is contained in Article 7.2 of the Pressure Equipment Directive 97/23/EC but this has not yet been put into effect and so the Committee has never met.
	An informal "Working Group on Pressure" has been convened, however, under the auspices of Article 17 of the Directive.
	Representation from the United Kingdom is led by officials from the Department of Trade and Industry. They are supported by a technical expert from the Health and Safety Executive. The Scottish Executive is regularly consulted on, and is fully involved in discussions, at official and Ministerial level, with the Department on the formulation of EU policy which touch on matters which fall within the responsibilities of the Scottish Executive.

EU Committees

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when the EU Committee for the harmonisation of national legislation relating to recreational craft is next due to meet; whether representatives of the Scottish Executive (a) have been and (b) are members of it; and if she will make a statement.

Patricia Hewitt: It is my understanding that the hon Member is referring to the Standing Committee set up under Article 6 of the Directive 94/25 on the approximation of the laws, regulations and administrative provisions of Member States relating to recreational craft. The next meeting is scheduled for December 2002. The UK is represented by two officials from the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).
	The Scottish Executive is regularly consulted on, and is fully involved in discussions, at official and Ministerial level, with the Department on the formulation of EU policy which touch on matters which fall within the responsibilities of the Scottish Executive.

EU Committees

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when the EU Committee on implementation of the multiannual programme for enterprise and entrepreneurship, in particular for small and medium-sized enterprises is next due to meet; whether representatives of the Scottish Executive have been members of it; and if she will make a statement.

Patricia Hewitt: The next Enterprise Programme Management Committee (EPMC) is due to take place during September/October 2002.
	The Multiannual programme for enterprise and entrepreneurship is not a devolved activity.
	The Scottish Executive is regularly consulted on, and is fully involved in discussions, at official and Ministerial level, with the Department on the formulation of EU policy which touch on matters which fall within the responsibilities of the Scottish Executive.

EU Committees

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when the EU Advisory Committee for implementation of the Community market-access strategy is next due to meet; whether representatives of the Scottish Executive have been members of it; and if she will make a statement.

Patricia Hewitt: The Advisory Committee for the Implementation of the Community Market-access Strategy last met on 6 June 2002. Its next meeting is likely to be in the first half of 2003. The Scottish Executive is regularly consulted on, and is fully involved in discussions, at official and Ministerial level, with the Department on the formulation of EU policy which touch on matters which fall within the responsibilities of the Scottish Executive.

EU Committees

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when the EU Advisory Committee on common rules for exports of products is next due to meet; whether representatives of the Scottish Executive have been members of it; and if she will make a statement.

Patricia Hewitt: The EU Advisory Committee on Common Rules for Exports of Products last met on 8 May 2001. No date has been set for its next meeting and I believe it is unlikely to do so again in the foreseeable future. The Scottish Executive is regularly consulted on, and is fully involved in discussions, at official and Ministerial level, on the formulation of EU policy which touch on matters which fall within the responsibilities of the Scottish Executive.

EU Committees

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when the EU Committee for protection against the effects of the extra-territorial application of legislation adopted by a third country, and actions based thereon or resulting therefrom (anti-boycott) is next due to meet; whether representatives of the Scottish Executive have been members of it; and if she will make a statement.

Patricia Hewitt: It was intended that a Committee for Protection Against the Effects of the Extraterritorial Application of Legislation Adopted by a Third Country and Actions Based Thereon or Resulting therefrom (anti-boycott) would be established in Brussels to assist EU companies affected by extraterritorial jurisdiction by third countries, and in particular those affected by the extraterritorial aspects of the US trade sanctions against Cuba, Iran and Libya.
	Thus far, the Committee has not been convened. UK companies are obliged to inform HMG and the European Commission of any extraterritorial action taken against them, but whilst it is clear who would be responsible for representing the UK at any meeting of the Committee, in these times of improved electronic communication, it has not been necessary in practice for it to meet.
	In addition, as part of the 1997 Understanding between the EU and the US, the US undertook to exempt European individuals and companies from the extraterritorial aspects of US legislation drastically reducing the number of cases occurring, thus further reducing the need for the Committee to meet.
	The Scottish Executive is regularly consulted on, and is fully involved in discussions, at officials and Ministerial level, with the Department on the formulation of EU policy which touched on matters which fall within the responsibilities of the Scottish Executive.

EU Committees

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when the EU Advisory Committee on restrictive practices and dominant positions is next due to meet; whether representatives of the Scottish Executive (a) have been and (b) are members of it; and if he will make a statement.

Patricia Hewitt: The Advisory Committee on Restrictive Practices and Dominant Positions met on 15 July. The UK is normally represented by officials from the Office of Fair Trading, and sometimes the DTI. The Scottish Executive is regularly consulted on, and is fully involved in discussions, at official and Ministerial level, with the Department on the formulation of EU policy which touch on matters which fall within the responsibilities of the Scottish Executive.

EU Committees

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when the EU Advisory Committee on restrictive practices and dominant positions in the transport industry is next due to meet; whether representatives of the Scottish Executive (a) have been and (b) are members of it; and if she will make a statement.

Patricia Hewitt: The Advisory Committee on Restrictive Practices and Dominant Positions in the transport industry meets only when there are European Commission decisions or legislative proposals to discuss. No meetings are currently planned. The UK is normally represented by officials from the Office of Fair Trading, the DTI and the DTLR. The Scottish Executive is regularly consulted on, and is fully involved in discussions, at official and Ministerial level, with the Department on the formulation of EU policy which touch on matters which fall within the responsibilities of the Scottish Executive.

EU Committees

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when the EU Advisory Committee on concentrations between undertakings is next due to meet; whether representatives of the Scottish Executive (a) have been and (b) are members of it; and if he will make a statement.

Patricia Hewitt: The Advisory Committee on Restrictive Practices and Dominant Positions met on the 15 July. The UK is normally represented by officials from the Office of fair Trading and sometimes the DTI. The Scottish Executive is regularly consulted on, and is fully involved in discussions, at official and Ministerial level, with the department on the formulation of EU policy which touch on matters which fall within the responsibilities of the Scottish Executive.

EU Committees

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when the EU Committee on General Authorisations and Individual Licences in the Field of Telecommunications Services is next due to meet; whether representatives of the Scottish Executive (a) have been and (b) are members of it; and if she will make a statement.

Patricia Hewitt: No meetings are currently scheduled for the EU Committee on General Authorisations and Individual Licences in the Field of Telecommunications Services.
	The UK is normally represented at the Licensing Committee by two officials, one each from Oftel and the Radio Agency. The Scottish Executive is regularly consulted on, and is fully involved in discussions, at official and Ministerial level, with the Department on the formulation of EU policy which touch on matters which fall within the responsibilities of the Scottish Executive.

EU Committees

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when the EU Committee on the Implementation of Open Network Provision is next due to meet; whether representatives of the Scottish Executive (a) have been and (b) are members of it; and if she will make a statement.

Patricia Hewitt: No meetings are currently scheduled for the EU Committee on the implementation of Open Network Provision.
	The UK is normally represented on the ONP Committee by three officials, one from DTI and two from Oftel. The Scottish Executive is regularly consulted on, and is fully involved in discussions, at official and Ministerial level, with the Department on the formulation of EU policy which touch on matters which fall within the responsibilities of the Scottish Executive.

EU Committees

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when the EU Committee for the Implementation of the Multiannual Community Action Plan on Promoting the Safe Use of the Internet is next due to meet; whether representatives of the Scottish Executive (a) have been and (b) are members of it; and if she will make a statement.

Patricia Hewitt: The Internet Action Plan Programme Committee is next due to meet on 28 October 2002. An official from the Department of Trade and Industry normally attends, and represents all of the UK. The Scottish Executive is regularly consulted on, and is fully involved in discussions, at official and Ministerial level, with the Department on the formulation of EU policy which touch on matters which fall within the responsibilities of the Scottish Executive.

EU Committees

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when the EU Committee for the Implementation of the Multiannual Community Programme to Stimulate the Development and Use of European Digital Content on the Global Networks and to Promote Linquistic Diversity in the Information Society (e-Content) is next due to meet; whether representatives of the Scottish Executive (a) have been and (b) are members of it; and if she will make a statement.

Patricia Hewitt: The Programme Management Committee met on 22 March 2002, and is next due to meet on 11 September 2002. The UK is normally represented by one official from the Department of Trade and Industry. The Scottish Executive is regularly consulted on, and is fully involved in discussions, at official and Ministerial level, with the Department on the formulation of EU policy which touch on matters which fall within the responsibilities of the Scottish Executive.

EU Committees

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when the EU Committee for the Approximation of the Laws of the Member States Relating to Noise Emission in the Environment by Equipment for Use Outdoors is next due to meet; whether representatives of the Scottish Executive (a) have been and (b) are members of it; and if she will make a statement.

Patricia Hewitt: The Noise Committee met on 16 November 2001, and is next due to meet on 6 December 2002. The UK is normally represented by two officials from the Department of Trade and Industry. The Scottish Executive is regularly consulted on, and is fully involved in discussions, at official and Ministerial level, with the Department on the formulation of EU policy which touch on matters which fall within the responsibilities of the Scottish Executive.

EU Committees

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when the EU Advisory Committee on Telecommunications Procurement is next due to meet; whether representatives of the Scottish Executive (a) have been and (b) are members of it; and if she will make a statement.

Patricia Hewitt: No meetings of the Advisory Committee on Telecommunications Procurement are currently planned. Under the Cabinet Office and Scottish Executive Concordat on Co-ordination of European Union Policy Issues, UK representation falls to the relevant UK Department (in this instance the Office of Government Commerce). The Concordat requires that the Scottish Executive should be fully consulted prior to any meeting of the Committee and provides that it may send observers or, with the prior agreement of the relevant UK Department, represent the UK at meetings. To date, UK representation at meetings of this particular committee has been by officials of the Office of Government Commerce.

EU Committees

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when the EU Committee on Security of Information Systems is next due to meet; whether representatives of the Scottish Executive (a) have been and (b) are members of it; and if she will make a statement.

Patricia Hewitt: The Advisory Committee on Security of Information Systems (SOG-IS) has not met for over three years and there are no issues under consideration at present. The UK is normally represented by an official from the Department of Trade and Industry.
	The Scottish Executive is regularly consulted on, and is fully involved in discussions, at official and Ministerial level, with the Department of the formulation of EU policy which touch on matters which fall within the responsibilities of the Scottish Executive.

EU Committees

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when the EU Committee on fees, implementation rules and the procedure of the boards of appeal of the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (trademarks and design) is next due to meet; whether representatives of the Scottish Executive (a) have been and (b) are members of it; and if she will make a statement.

Patricia Hewitt: The next meeting, which is expected to be the last in the current round aimed at agreeing detailed rules for the Community Registered Design, is due to be held on 19 September. The only officials normally attending are those who are expert on the specific issues, who come from the Patent Office.
	The Scottish Executive is regularly consulted on, and is fully involved in discussions, at official and Ministerial level, with the Department on the formulation of EU policy which touches on matters which fall within the responsibilities of the Scottish Executive.

EU Committees

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when the EU Advisory Committee for co-ordination in the internal market field is next due to meet; whether representatives of the Scottish Executive (a) have been and (b) are members of it; and if she will make a statement.

Patricia Hewitt: The Advisory Committee for Co-ordination in the Internal Market Field has several formations. The next meeting of the "general" formation is planned for 3 December, although there are meetings of the Heads of Delegations formation planned for 8 October, "Better Regulation" formation planned for 24 July and 9 October and a Heads of Co-ordination Centres formation planned for 5 November.
	The DTI co-ordinates single market policy and represents the UK at meetings of this committee, except in the case of the "Better Regulation" formation where Cabinet Office (Regulatory Impact Unit) officials also attend.
	The Scottish Executive is regularly consulted on, and is fully involved in discussions, at official and Ministerial level, with the Department on the formulation of EU policy which touch on matters which fall within the responsibilities of the Scottish Executive.

EU Committees

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when the EU Committee of experts on the transit of natural gas through grids is next due to meet; whether representatives of the Scottish Executive (a) have been and (b) are members of it; and if she will make a statement.

Patricia Hewitt: There is no date for the next meeting of the Committee, perhaps because it is due to be abolished under the Commission's current proposals for liberalising the European gas market.
	The Committee is and always has been made up purely of experts from the industry, so no representatives of the Scottish Executive have ever sat on it. Lattice Group plc represents the UK, including Scotland, on the Committee.

EU Committees

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when the EU Advisory Committee on the development and reconversion of regions is next due to meet; whether representatives of the Scottish Executive (a) have been and (b) are members of it; and if she will make a statement.

Patricia Hewitt: The next meeting of this Committee is scheduled for 25 September. My Department, which has co-ordinating responsibility for Structural Funds in the UK, sends one representative. Other departments with responsibility for the European Regional Development Fund, and the Devolved Administrations, are also invited. A representative of the Scottish Executive normally attends as an observer. On average the UK representation is three officials.
	For further information regarding the Committee I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to the hon. Member for Buckingham (Mr. Bercow) on 4 July 2002, Official Report, columns 467–68.

EU Committees

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when the EU Committee of experts on the transit of electricity through grids is next due to meet; whether representatives of the Scottish Executive (a) have been and (b) are members of it; and if she will make a statement.

Patricia Hewitt: There is no date for the next meeting of the Committee, perhaps because it is due to be abolished under the Commission's current proposals for liberalising the European electricity market.
	National Grid Company plc represents the UK, including Scotland and Northern Ireland, on the Committee.
	The Scottish Executive is regularly consulted on, and is fully involved in discussions, at official and Ministerial level, with the Department on the formulation of EU policy which touch on matters which fall within the responsibilities of the Scottish Executive.

EU Committees

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many new pieces of legislation originating in the European Union were implemented by her Department in each of the last three years; and if she will make a statement.

Patricia Hewitt: My Department has implemented five EU directives so far this year. It implemented nine EU directives in 2001 and sixteen in 2000.

EU Directives

John Whittingdale: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the Government policy is towards the EU Hallmarking Directive; and if she will make a statement.

Brian Wilson: The draft Directive proposing a single market in hallmarking precious metals is not the subject of current negotiations. Should they resume in future, the Government would wish to participate constructively to work for a fair outcome for business and consumers. The Department encourages key stakeholders to consider the implications of a possible Directive.

EU Directives

John Whittingdale: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment she has made of the impact of the EU Hallmarking Directive on UK assay offices; and if she will make a statement.

Brian Wilson: The draft Hallmarking Directive has not progressed in Europe for a number of years due to unresolved difference and it is unclear whether or when it may do so. In the event of further discussions or new proposals coming forward, impact on a wide range of interests will need to be assessed, including business and consumers and others such as assay offices.

EU Directives

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will list the EU directives and regulations that have been implemented through her Department in 2002; and what was the cost of each to public funds.

Patricia Hewitt: Five EU directives have been implemented by DTI so far in 2002:
	Directives 97/64/EC, 98/44/EC, 1999/42/EC, 1999/93/EC, and 2001/77/EC.
	The cost and saving information could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

EU Directives

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will list the EU directives relating to her Department which have been (a) amended and (b) repealed in 2002.

Patricia Hewitt: The following EU directives relating to DTI have been amended or repealed so far in 2002.
	Amended: Directive 76/768/EEC
	Repealed: Directives 90/387/EEC, 91/396/EEC, 92/44/EEC, 92/264/EEC, 95/47/EC, 97/13/EC, 98/10/EC

EU Directives

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when the EU Committee on the directives on names and labelling of textile products is next due to meet; whether representatives of the Scottish Executive (a) have been and (b) are members of it; and if she will make a statement.

Patricia Hewitt: No meeting of the EU Committee on Directives relating to Textile Names and Labelling is scheduled currently. When it does meet the UK is normally represented by one official from the Department of Trade and Industry. The Scottish Executive is regularly consulted on, and is fully involved in discussions, at official and Ministerial level, with the Department on the formulation of EU policy which touch on matters which fall within the responsibilities of the Scottish Executive.

EU Directives

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when the EU Committee for the adaptation to technical progress of directives on the removal of technical barriers to trade in the sector of protective equipment and systems for use in explosive atmospheres is next due to meet; whether representatives of the Scottish Executive (a) have been and (b) are members of it; and if she will make a statement.

Patricia Hewitt: It is my understanding that the hon Member is referring to the Standing Committee set up under Article 6 of Council Directive 94/9/EC of 23 March 1994 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States concerning Equipment and Protective Systems Intended for Use in Potentially Explosive Atmospheres (the so-called ATEX Directive). The date of the next meeting of the Standing Committee is 11 December 2002.
	Representation from the United Kingdom is led by officials from the Department of Trade and Industry, supported by a technical expert from the Health and Safety Executive to provide technical advice. The Scottish Executive is regularly consulted on, and is fully involved in discussions, at official and Ministerial level, with the Department on the formulation of EU policy which touch on matters which fall within the responsibilities of the Scottish Executive.

EU Directives

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when the EU Committee for the adaptation to technical progress of directives on the removal of technical barriers to trade in the sector of pressure vessels is next due to meet; whether representatives of the Scottish Executive (a) have been and (b) are members of it; and if she will make a statement.

Patricia Hewitt: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to the hon. Member for Buckingham (Mr. Bercow) earlier today.

EU Directives

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when the EU Committee for the adaptation to technical progress of directives on the removal of technical barriers to trade in the sector of electric materials used in an explosive atmosphere is next due to meet; whether representatives of the Scottish Executive (a) have been and (b) are members of it; and if she will make a statement.

Patricia Hewitt: It is my understanding that the hon. Member is referring to the committee responsible for adaptation to technical progress of the Directives on the removal of technical barriers to trade in electrical equipment for use in explosive atmospheres set up under Article 6 of Directive 76/117/EEC on the approximation of the laws of the Member States concerning electrical equipment for use in potentially explosive atmospheres. The committee has not met for several years and is unlikely to meet again because Directive 76/117/EEC is being superseded by Directive 94/9/EC (the ATEX Directive) and will be repealed on 1 July 2003 when Directive 94/9/EC comes fully into force.

EU Directives

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when the EU Committee for the adaptation to technical progress of directives on the removal of technical barriers to trade in the sector of construction plant and equipment is next due to meet; whether representatives of the Scottish Executive (a) have been and (b) are members of it; and if she will make a statement.

Patricia Hewitt: It is my understanding that the hon Member is referring to the Committee on the Adaptation to Technical Progress set up under Article 4 of Directive 79/113/EEC on the approximation of laws of the Member States relating to the determination of the noise emission of construction plant and equipment. Directive 79/113/EEC has been superseded by Directive 2000/14/EC and was repealed on 3 January 2002 when Directive 2000/14/EC came fully into force. Therefore, this Committee will not meet again. However, at previous meetings the UK was normally represented by two officials from the Department of Trade and Industry. The Scottish Executive is regularly consulted on, and is fully involved in discussions, at official and Ministerial level, on the formulation of EU policy which touch on matters which fall within the responsibilities of the Scottish Executive.

EU Directives

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when the EU Committee for the adaptation to technical progress of directives on the removal of technical barriers to trade in the sector of lifting and mechanical handling appliances is next due to meet; whether representatives of the Scottish Executive (a) have been and (b) are members of it; and if she will make a statement.

Patricia Hewitt: Directive 84/528/EEC, on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to common provisions for lifting and mechanical handling appliances, was repealed on 1 July 1999 by the Lifts Directive 95/16/EC.

EU Directives

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when the EU Committee for the adaptation to technical progress of directives on the removal of technical barriers to trade in the sector of cosmetics is next due to meet; whether representatives of the Scottish Executive (a) have been and (b) are members of it; and if she will make a statement.

Patricia Hewitt: The EU Technical Adaptation Committee on the safety of cosmetic products next met on 22 July. The UK is represented by two officials from the Department of Trade and Industry. The Scottish Executive is regularly consulted on, and is fully involved in discussions, at official and Ministerial level, with the Department on the formulation of EU policy which touch on matters which fall within the responsibilities of the Scottish Executive.

Consignia

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what redundancy package has been agreed with Consignia; and if she will make a statement.

Stephen Timms: holding answer 24 July 2002
	Redundancy packages are an operational issue for the company in consultation with the unions.

Consignia

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how Consignia measures and calculates its quality of service targets; and if she will make a statement.

Patricia Hewitt: Targets for scheduled services and standards are set in the licence issued by the Postal Services Commission (Postcomm) and agreed between Consignia and the Consumer Council for Postal Services (Postwatch). The system for measurement of performance against those targets is a matter for the company. However independent auditors appointed by Postwatch conduct ongoing audits of the figures to ensure that the reported results are calculated correctly and are an unbiased representation of the actual quality of service. As this is an operational matter for the company I have asked Consignia's Chief Executive to write direct to the hon Member.

Consignia

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry 
	(1)  what costs are associated with the (a) formation, (b) printing, (c) publishing and (d) distribution of Consignia's annual report and accounts; and if she will make a statement;
	(2)  how many modified sub-postmasters offices have closed since 1997, listing for each year the reasons why the office was closed; and if she will make a statement;
	(3)  if she will make a statement on the employment status of modified sub-postmasters/mistresses;
	(4)  how many modified subpostmasters' offices are run by (a) the self-employed and (b) employees of Consignia; and if she will make a statement.

Stephen Timms: holding answer 24 July 2002
	These are matters that fall within the day to day responsibility of Consignia and I have therefore asked the Chief Executive to reply direct to the hon. Member.

Consignia

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry 
	(1)  what tender process was used to select companies involved in non-audit services provided to the Post Office in 2001–02; and if she will make a statement;
	(2)  which Post Office branches will have cash machines installed by March 2003 broken down by constituency; and if she will make a statement;
	(3)  if she will list the charitable donations made by Consignia since 1997; and if she will make a statement;
	(4)  how many cash machines are installed in Post Office branches; and if she will make a statement.

Stephen Timms: These are matters that fall within the day to day responsibility of Consignia and I have therefore asked the Chief Executive to reply direct to the hon member.

Consignia

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what provision has been made by Consignia to compensate modified post offices for loss of income from ACT; and if she will make a statement.

Stephen Timms: holding answer 24 July 2002
	The Government is committed to the future of the post office network. £480 million has already been invested in modernisation of the post office network. In addition, the Government as owner of the Consignia Group, has taken steps to strengthen the management of the company, including the appointment of David Mills as Chief Executive for Post Office Limited who has been charged with development of a strategic plan to include widening commercial opportunities for the network.
	Banking will be a central part of post offices' strategy to move forward. Universal banking services, together with Post Office Limited's plans for an expansion of network banking—the provision of counter services for ordinary current accounts—should lead to a substantial increase in the range and volume of banking at post offices, tapping into a very much larger customer base than benefit recipients alone. This should benefit subpostmasters both directly and through increased footfall, providing a major income stream offsetting the loss over time of the benefit book related revenue.

Consignia

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many days were lost due to (a) sickness, (b) official industrial action and (c) unofficial industrial action in each of the last five years; broken down by grade, by (i) Consignia, (ii) Royal Mail and (iii) Post Office Counters; and if she will make a statement.

Stephen Timms: holding answer 23 July 2002
	These are matters that fall within the day to day responsibility of Consignia and I have therefore asked the Chief Executive to reply direct to the hon. Member.

Consignia

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what recent discussions she has had with (a) Postcomm and (b) Postwatch regarding the maintenance of the universal service obligation on the Post Office.

Stephen Timms: Ministers regularly have discussions with Postcomm and Postwatch on strategic postal issues.
	The postal universal service obligation was laid down in the Postal Services Act 2000 and consists of a service provided at an affordable price determined by a public tariff uniform throughout the United Kingdom. It includes the delivery each working day to the home or premises of every individual in the United Kingdom and a collection each working day from access points, subject to the exceptions to this agreed with Postcomm.

Consignia

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what discussions have taken place between the Government and Consignia to merge the services provided by "your guide" with the website www.ukonline.gov.uk; and if she will make a statement.

Stephen Timms: holding answer 22 July 2002
	Post Office Limited discussed with Government a wide range of services which might potentially be offered via a Your Guide-type scheme, including the possibility of access to ukonline. My Department has worked closely with the Office of the eEnvoy on the options.

Consignia

Richard Page: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when her Department was informed of the decision to change the name of the Post Office to Consignia.

Stephen Timms: The Department was informed by the Post Office in November 2000 of the proposed name of the company that was to be designated as the Post Office company.

Consignia

Richard Page: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when her Department was informed of the proposal to charge to deliver early morning mail for small businesses receiving fewer than 20 letters per day.

Stephen Timms: The Department was informed about the level of the charge for Consignia's additional service a few days before Consignia announced that it would be running pilots of its new Tailored Delivery Service on 10 July. The service will now be trialled at £5, £10 and around £14 per week for the pilots but the Chairman of Consignia, Allan Leighton, has said that the final proposed price will be part of the evaluation of the pilots in consultation with the regulator, the Postal Services Commission, and the consumer body, Postwatch.

Sub-Post Office Closures

Ann McKechin: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what recent discussions she has had with Consignia with regard to the closure of sub-post offices in Scotland.

Stephen Timms: I have met recently with Consignia executives to discuss plans for the post office network which are likely to lead to some closures as a result of the forthcoming programme to restructure the urban post office network. Any closure would need to be preceded by discussion with the subpostmaster and local consultations. The Post Office has been tasked with avoiding preventable rural closures.

Rural Post Offices

David Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what research was (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated in the last 12 months on the effect of the introduction of automated credit transfer on the future financial viability of rural post offices; and what plans she has to commission future research in this area.

Stephen Timms: holding answer 18 July 2002
	The Performance and Innovation Unit's report "Counter Revolution: Modernising the Post Office Network", showed that the future viability of the network was challenged by the introduction of automated credit transfer. In December 2000, PostComm advised my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry on support for rural post offices. This advice was based on research which included consideration of the impact of automated credit transfer. No other research has been commissioned into the effects of this on rural post offices in the last twelve months.
	As set out in the PIU report the effect on the network will depend on the Post Office's ability to generate replacement business. We are concentrating on supporting the Post Office's efforts to build up these new business opportunities, including universal banking services, so as to mitigate the effects of the move to automatic credit transfer. We will be monitoring the situation closely as the programme unfolds. We have no proposals for other research in this area.

Post Office Card Accounts

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the Government's target is for the number of Post Office card accounts to be operational in (a) 2003, (b) 2004, (c) 2005 and (d) 2006; what the estimated cost is to the Government of those accounts; and if she will make a statement.

Stephen Timms: holding answer 24 July 2002
	The Government does not have a target for card accounts at the Post Office, rather there is an operating assumption of 3 million card accounts at the end of the benefit and tax credit migration period in 2005, but there will be no cap and no eligibility criteria. Numbers will build up over the migration period from April 2003 but the scale of that build up will depend critically on individual consumer decisions which are difficult to predict with any certainty. The Government has agreed contractual terms with the Post Office for the provision of the card account, the details of which are commercially confidential to the parties.

Solar Power

Alan Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the payback period is on available photovoltaic and other domestic solar power installations; what contribution the Government's major photovoltaics demonstration programme makes to reducing the payback period; what the comparative payback period is for solar energy technology; and what packages of financial support are available to support and promote the use of solar energy.

Brian Wilson: The typical payback period for photovoltaic installations is 50–100 years. The major photovoltaics demonstration programme effectively halves this payback period for the purchaser by offering 50 per cent. grants on this technology. Our rationale for supporting photovoltaics is that it is a technology at a relatively early stage of development, but with significant potential for further cost reduction and for meeting our electricity needs in the future.
	Solar water heating is a proven and commercial technology with a payback period of 15–20 years. No financial support is currently available for this technology through central government, although such support is currently being considered under the £10 million Community and Household renewables scheme. Support may, however, be available through local authorities and energy suppliers.

Consumer Credit

Andrew Love: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when the review of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 will be completed; what the terms of reference of that review are; and if she will make a statement.

Melanie Johnson: Last July I published a consultation document Tackling loan sharks—and more! which set out proposals for the first major review of our consumer credit laws in almost 30 years. The aim of the review is to create a modern regulatory framework that protects consumers against loan sharks and other unfair lending practices, while enabling business to operate competitively in a modern credit market.
	The priority areas for review are:-
	Changing the financial limit for credit agreements covered by the Act and reviewing the categories of exemption
	Amending the rules on early settlement of loans
	Enabling consumers to conclude credit agreements on-line
	Changing the licensing regime to target enforcement on keeping the loan sharks out of the market
	Making the extortionate credit provisions more effective
	Simplifying the advertising regulations, including the regulations on Annual Percentage Rates (APR's), and
	Simplifying the rules on multiple agreements
	In March I consulted on the first of the substantive issues—increasing/removing the financial limit. We are now considering the responses to that consultation. Further consultations on the remaining priority issues will follow during the remainder of 2002 and the early part of 2003.

Vehicle Fuel Consumption

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of the intelligent motor generator technology developed by Ricardo in reducing fuel consumption in road vehicles.

Alan Johnson: holding answer 24 July 2002
	I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to him on 23 July 2002, Official Report, column 964W, by my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport. The intelligent motor generator technology developed by Ricardo and other proposals from various other suppliers are currently being appraised by the DTI and DfT under the New Vehicle Technology Fund. As such an assessment of its likely benefits (to the environment) are not yet available.

Fuel Suppliers

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what recent action she has taken with the competition authorities to ensure that a free and open market between fuel suppliers operates within the UK petrol retail industry; and if she will make a statement.

Melanie Johnson: Under UK competition legislation the Director General of Fair Trading is responsible for monitoring markets and investigating allegations of anti-competitive behaviour.
	The Director General has investigated the petrol retail industry a number of times in recent years and has found it to be competitive. He has said that he will continue to monitor the market closely.

Electricity Generation (Mablethorpe)

Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessments she is making of the electricity generation programme now in place at Mablethorpe, Lincolnshire; how long she expects such evaluation to take place; and what plans she has to encourage further air-powered generation.

Brian Wilson: The department does not evaluate the performance of individual wind farms.
	Accreditation of wind farms and other renewable energy generating stations for the Renewables Obligation is given by Ofgem.
	Wind energy, along with other forms of renewable energy, stands to benefit substantially from the introduction of the Renewables Obligation from 1 April this year. This places an obligation on electricity suppliers to supply a specified proportion of their electricity from renewable sources. The level of the Obligation is set to rise each year reaching a target of 10 per cent. by 2010, by which time its value could be up to £1 billion per year. The Obligation has been set up for a 25 year period (2002–27), providing the right climate for expansion of wind energy and renewable energy generally.
	Wind energy, along with other renewables, also benefits from exemption from the Climate Change Levy.
	The Government has assigned £74 million over the next three year for capital grants for offshore wind energy projects, where initial capital costs are greater, and the technology is less well established, than is the case for onshore projects.
	We are encouraging a positive approach to new renewable energy proposals, including new windfarm proposals, through regional renewable energy plans and targets.

Fuel Reduction Technology

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what her Department's policy is on providing collaboration funding for development of fuel reduction technology with British companies; and whether it is the policy of her Department to seek tenders from other European companies before awarding such funding.

Brian Wilson: holding answer 23 July 2002
	I refer the hon Member to the answer given to him on the 23 July 2002, Official Report, column 964W, by my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport.

National Transmission Service

Alex Salmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the average entry charges into the National Transmission Service were from each of the major UK gas terminals over the last year.

Brian Wilson: The information for 3 major terminals is as follows:
	
		
			 p/therm Winter 2001–02 Summer 2002 Gas Year 2001–02 
		
		
			 Bacton 0.03 0.02 0.02 
			 St Fergus 1.19 1.30 1.25 
			 Teesside 0.34 0.19 0.26 
		
	
	Source:
	Transco
	Notes:
	(i) Volume-weighted averages of prices achieved in Transco's primary auctions for entry capacity. (ii) Winter is the period from October–March (inclusive). Summer is the period from April–September (inclusive). The Gas Year runs from 1 October to 30 September.

Transco

Alex Salmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what statutory obligations apply to Transco.

Brian Wilson: Transco is subject to various obligations under a range of legislation. Its main obligations of a sectoral economic nature are imposed under the Gas Act 1986 (as amended). These include obligations under section 9 of that Act: to develop and maintain an efficient and economical pipe-line system for the conveyance of gas; to comply (so far as it is economical to do so) with any reasonable request to connect premises to its system and convey gas to such premises or to connect a pipe-line system operated by another authorised transporter to its system; to facilitate competition in the supply of gas; and to avoid any undue preference or discrimination in the connection of premises or another pipe-line system to its system or in the terms on which it undertakes the conveyance of gas by means of its system.

Renewable Energy

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what representations her Department has received regarding the price imbalance exposure of (a) CHP and (b) renewable energy generators.

Brian Wilson: On 4 April 2002 the Government Response to the Consultation on NETA and Smaller Generators of 1 November 2001 was published (http://www.dti.gov.uk/energy/domestic_markets/ electricity_trading/neta_resp.pdf). Chapter 2 of the Response summarised the representations that were received, including from CHP and renewable generators or their industry associations, on a variety of issues. One of the issues in question was the risk of exposure to NETA's imbalance prices.
	The DTI has also held a number of meetings with interested companies and their representative organisations. Copies of the responses to the DTI Consultation on NETA and Smaller Generators are available for viewing in the DTI library.

Wind Farms

Tony Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make it her policy to take into account the cumulative effect of large numbers of wind farms in areas of outstanding natural beauty when considering planning applications.

Brian Wilson: Planning policy guidance covering Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs) already exists to protect such areas, and the Government has made it clear that AONBs should share the protection given to National Parks in relation to landscape and scenic beauty. PPG7 (for England) was accordingly amended in June 2000 so that for major projects in AONBs, consideration of planning applications should normally include an assessment of the need for the development, in terms of national considerations, and the impact of permitting it or refusing it on the local economy; the cost of and scope for developing elsewhere outside the area or meeting the need for it in some other way; and any detrimental effect on the environment and the landscape, and the extent to which that should be moderated.

Energy Industry

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry by what proportion UK electricity generating capacity exceeds average peak demand in 2002.

Brian Wilson: A UK-wide estimate of the plant margin (i.e., the proportion by which installed generation capacity exceeds peak demand) in 2002 is not currently available.
	However, according to table A2.3 in Appendix 2 of "The Development of British Electricity Trading and Transmission Arrangements" (http://www.ofgem.gov.uk/ docs2001/74 BETTA.pdf), which was published by OFGEM during December 2001, it was estimated that the plant margin in Great Britain was 25 per cent. in 2001–02. This was forecast to remain constant at 25 per cent. in 2003–04.

Carbon Emissions

Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what she estimates the carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants underwritten by the Export Credit Guarantees Department over the past five years will be over the 10 year operating period; and what she estimates the projected carbon emission savings in the United Kingdom over the same 10 years will be.

Patricia Hewitt: holding answer 23 July 2002
	For coal-fired power plants underwritten by ECGD since 1997 it is estimated that upon completion total annual carbon emissions be of the order of 11.1 million tonnes.
	The Government published the UK Climate Change Programme in November 2000 outlining a range of additional policies and measures that it is estimated could by 2010 reduce UK carbon emissions by 17.75 million tonnes below our projected baseline. The baseline reflects trends in energy use and the changing fuel mix in the electricity supply industry. It also includes the emission reductions expected from some policies that were introduced before the Programme was published, such as the climate change levy, the fuel duty escalator to 1999, and the 10 per cent. renewables target.
	The carbon emissions from power plants are calculated using the following assumptions:
	
		
			 Fuel Type ECGD Estimated Capacity (MW) CO 2  (Tonnes per year) Carbon (Tonnes per year) 
		
		
			 Coal 11,260 40.6 million 11.1 million 
		
	
	It has been assumed the plants operate for 60 per cent. of the time (5256 hours per year). CO 2 emissions are calculated using the following conversion factors—Coal: 0.687 tonnes of CO 2 per MW per hour, Oil 0.417, Gas: 0.309. These are taken from The Greenhouse Gas Protocol website (www.ghgprotocol.org) and are the 1999 average values for power plants in "Economies In Transition". These are the markets where ECGD most commonly provide guarantees.
	Carbon emissions are calculated by assuming that carbon makes up 27.3 per cent. of the atomic mass of CO 2 .

Nickel-Cadmium Batteries

Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what estimate she has made of the quantity of cadmium recovered from nickel-cadmium batteries stored in the UK; and if she will make a statement about the proposed disposal or reuse of this material.

Brian Wilson: Waste nickel-cadmium batteries arising in the UK are primarily recycled in France.
	Estimates suggest that this recycling led to the recovery of 21.4 tonnes of cadmium in 1999 and 19.7 tonnes in 2000. The recovered cadmium is suitable for reuse including the manufacture of new nickel-cadmium batteries.

Waste Electronic and Electrical Equipment

Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if it is the Government's intention that manufacturer and retailer responsibility for waste electronic and electrical equipment under the WEE Directive will begin at the central collection point.

Brian Wilson: The Directive is still in draft form and is undergoing the conciliation process.
	Under the Common Position text, retailers are obliged to take back items of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) from private households when supplying similar replacements. This can be fulfilled in-store, upon delivery of the new item or through a third party arrangement as long as returns are not made more difficult for the consumer.
	Producers are responsible for financing costs associated with WEEE at least from deposit at a central collection point. Member States have an option to place costs on producers before this. The Government has not yet decided whether this option will be used in the UK and will consult widely on the Directive on a variety of potential implementation approaches, once a final text is available.

Nuclear Industry

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what discussions she has had with the Scottish Executive regarding the licensing of nuclear power stations.

Brian Wilson: I have had no such discussions.

Nuclear Industry

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what opinion polls her Department has initiated regarding nuclear energy since 1997; and if she will place copies of the results of such polls in the Library.

Brian Wilson: No such polls have been conducted. The current energy policy consultation is seeking views on the role that nuclear power might play in a delivering a future energy policy and we hope that all those with an interest will make their views known.

Nuclear Industry

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will list her Department's measures to accelerate new investment in nuclear energy.

Brian Wilson: There are no specific measures to accelerate investment in new nuclear capacity. The PIU energy review report recommended that there are good reasons, both security of supply and low carbon, for the Government to take a positive stance on keeping the nuclear option open. We are currently consulting on this and other PIU recommendations and the results will form the basis of a White Paper to be published around the turn of the year.

Nuclear Industry

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what discussions she has held with (a) BE and (b) BNFL officials regarding the exemption of the nuclear industry from the Climate Change Levy.

Brian Wilson: Representations have been made by BE and BNFL about the exemption of nuclear generation from the climate change levy. This is a taxation matter for the Treasury.

Nuclear Industry

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps she has taken to decrease the risks associated with new nuclear stations.

Brian Wilson: The financial risk involved in building new nuclear stations would be primarily a matter for the potential investor.
	The Government is concerned to ensure that the inherent risks involved in electricity generation, whatever the means, are properly controlled. We expect the nuclear power industry to meet high safety and environmental standards.

Nuclear Industry

Ian Liddell-Grainger: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when her Department last met (a) BE, (b) BNFL and (c) UKAE to discuss the nuclear industry.

Brian Wilson: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, Ministers and officials meet BE, BNFL and UKAEA regularly to discuss a broad range of issues and there have been meetings with representatives from each of those companies within the last month.

Nuclear Industry

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry 
	(1)  what representations her Department has received regarding changes in carbon emissions after (a) 2020 and (b) the closing of all existing nuclear power stations;
	(2)  what representations her Department has received regarding the minimisation of local opposition to the development of nuclear energy;
	(3)  what representations she has received on the potential of nuclear energy as a low-carbon energy source;
	(4)  what representations she has received from non-Governmental organisations regarding the building of new nuclear power stations;
	(5)  what her Department's assessment is of the strategic security of (a) renewable and (b) nuclear energy supply;
	(6)  if she will make a statement on the building of new nuclear power stations;
	(7)  what representations her Department has received regarding the level of carbon tax at which new nuclear build becomes economic;
	(8)  what representations she has received regarding (a) the speed at which renewable energy sources can be developed and (b) whether new nuclear build will be needed; and if she will make a statement;
	(9)  what representations her Department has received regarding the (a) environmental and (b) discharge implications arising from (i) lifetime extension and (ii) new construction of nuclear power stations;
	(10)  what her assessment is of the environmental (a) benefits and (b) dangers of nuclear energy;
	(11)  what her assessment is of the case for new nuclear build in the future;
	(12)  what her Department's plan is for stimulating public debate on (a) nuclear-specific risks and (b) carbon abatement potential.

Brian Wilson: These are all issues on which the Government is currently taking views in its consultation on energy policy and on which our position will be set out in a White Paper around the turn of the year. The White Paper will take account in particular of the report and recommendations of the recent PIU energy review, the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution report "Energy—the Changing Climate", other recent Parliamentary reports, existing Government commitments and the findings of the current energy policy consultation. The consultation is very wide-ranging and is engaging stakeholders as well as the public through a variety of innovative approaches and events. It includes consideration of the role of all generation sources including nuclear power in delivering future energy policy, and the actions that might be needed to maintain nuclear as energy option. In parallel and specifically relevant to nuclear, the Government has also been consulting on the management of radioactive waste and DTI has recently published a White Paper on managing the public sector civil nuclear legacy.
	Nuclear Power currently provides about a quarter of UK's electricity supplies. Existing stations are expected to continue to contribute to the country's energy requirements and to helping limit carbon emissions provided they do so to the high safety and environmental standards currently observed. The Government is concerned to ensure that the inherent risks involved in electricity generation, whatever the means, are properly controlled.

Nuclear Industry

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on the future of nuclear generating capacity within the United Kingdom.

Brian Wilson: holding answer 27 June 2002
	The current energy policy consultation is considering the future role of all generation sources, including nuclear power, in delivering a future energy policy, submission have been requested by 13 September and we intend to issue a White Paper around the turn of the year.
	Nuclear Power currently provides about a quarter of UK's electricity supplies. Existing stations are expected to continue to contribute to the country's energy requirements and to helping limit carbon emissions provided they do so to the high safety and environmental standards currently observed.

Nuclear Industry

Debra Shipley: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the estimated total cost is of dealing with nuclear fuel waste.

Brian Wilson: In the UK, the majority of spent fuel is owned by the operators of the UK's nuclear power stations—BNFL which owns the UK's Magnox stations and British Energy which owns the UK's Advanced Gas Cooled Reactors and one Pressurised Water Reactor. The cost of managing spent nuclear fuel will depend on the management option chosen by the owner of the fuel. BNFL and British Energy publish annual accounts that include information on their respective nuclear provisions. These include provisions for de-fuelling, reprocessing and the management of spent nuclear fuel.

BNFL (Fines)

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will list the fines British Nuclear Fuels Ltd. has had to pay in each year since 2000, arising from safety and environmental breaches at (a) Sellafield, (b) Chapelcross, (c) Springfields and (d) the magnox nuclear stations.

Brian Wilson: BNFL Ltd. have incurred fines arising from safety and environmental breaches at the sites listed for the following years:
	
		
			  2000 2001 2002 
		
		
			 a. Sellafield £44,000 £8,000 £15,000 
			 b. Chapelcross £5,000 Nil Nil to date 
			 c. Springfields nil Nil Nil to date 
			 d. Magnox nuclear stations (excluding Chapelcross) £38,000 £100,000 Nil to date

BNFL

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will list the (a) percentage stake and (b) real amounts of BNFL investments in the (i) AP1000, (ii) AP600, (iii) Pebble Bed Modular Reactor and (iv) Candu 6.

Brian Wilson: AP1000 and AP600 are designs owned by BNFL's subsidiary Westinghouse Electric Company. BNFL currently has a stake of around 20 per cent. in the PBMR, but no interest in Candu 6.
	Levels of investment are a commercial matter for the company.

BNFL

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will list the meetings held in the last two years between representatives of BNFL and its subsidiaries and members of the United States Congress.

Brian Wilson: No. Details of individual meetings of BNFL employees or representatives are a matter for the company.

Nuclear Security

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what recent representations her Department has received regarding the ability of the Office for Civil Nuclear Security to vet nuclear industry personnel with access to sensitive nuclear material or information.

Brian Wilson: The Department has received no recent representations concerning vetting undertaken by the Office for Civil Nuclear Security.

Sellafield

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what representations her Department has received regarding projected clean-up costs for the next 20 years at Sellafield after BNFL privatisation.

Brian Wilson: The Department of Trade and Industry has not received any representations on this specific issue. However, it has recently published a White Paper "Managing the Nuclear Legacy: A Strategy for Action" which sets out plans to drive forward the clean up of the civil nuclear legacy safely, securely, cost effectively and in ways which protect the environment for current and future generations. The White Paper seeks views on a range of issues, including those related to clean up costs. Copies are available from the Libraries of the House.

Power Stations

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what representations her Department has received regarding the prospects for lifetime extensions of (a) AGR and (b) pressure water reactor stations.

Brian Wilson: This is an operational matter for British Energy, subject to any regulatory requirements.

Nuclear Plant Decommissioning

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what recent representations her Department has received regarding the eventual decommissioning costs associated with proposed nuclear plants.

Brian Wilson: None.

MOX Plutonium

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what security measures will be enforced to ensure the safe passage of the pending shipment of MOX plutonium via sea from Japan to the United Kingdom; and with whom this responsibility lies.

Brian Wilson: The Office for Civil Nuclear Security (OCNS) regularly review the potential threats posed to MOX shipments. They are satisfied that the thorough precautions that have been taken to prevent the theft or sabotage of this shipment are adequate. For obvious reasons, the Government is not prepared to give details of the security arrangements in place.

Public Buildings

Debra Shipley: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will name the projects the departmental Design Champion has sponsored as part of the Better Public Buildings initiative; and if she will make a statement on the extent of her personal input in respect of each.

Brian Wilson: I am currently identifying the projects to be put forward by the DTI as sponsored projects for the Better Public Buildings initiative. I have written separately to the Regional Development Agencies and the other DTI Agencies and NDPBs and expect to announce the first DTI sponsored projects in the autumn.
	I welcome the agreement by my Ministerial colleagues that all the sponsored projects put forward by Government Departments will be Rethinking Construction Demonstration Projects. They will also act as trailblazers for the new Design Quality Indicator, which has been developed by CABE and the Construction Industry Council with DTI funding. This will help to ensure that the sponsored projects will be examples of best practice in public sector procurement, design and delivery.

Departmental Report

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry with reference to Target 2 on page 16 of the 2002 Departmental report, what plans she has to issue further competitiveness indicators in each of the next three years.

Patricia Hewitt: The Government's Competitiveness Indicators are now available on the Department's website (http://217.154.27.195/competitiveness/index.htm), and are regularly updated with the latest data. The Department is planning to issue an update of the Competitiveness Indicators in Autumn 2002, and a full assessment in 2003, with a further update to follow during 2004.

Departmental Bodies

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many jobs under the remit of her Department in (a) the core department, (b) non-departmental public bodies, (c) executive agencies and (d) independent statutory bodies, organisations and bodies financially sponsored by her Department and other such organisations, are located in (i) Scotland, (ii) England, excluding Greater London, (iii) Greater London, (iv) Wales, (v) Northern Ireland and (vi) overseas, broken down by (A) whole time equivalent jobs and (B) the percentage per individual department, body or organisation.

Patricia Hewitt: holding answer 24 July 2002
	It is not possible to provide all the information requested. Information in respect of the NDPBs for which my Department has responsibility is not held centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. The information requested for DTI headquarters and the Executive Agencies is shown on the table below. My Department does not have offices overseas.
	
		
			 Department/Agency England Per cent. of Dept/ Agency Greater London Per cent. of Dept/ Agency Northern Ireland Per cent. of Dept/ Agency Scotland Per cent. of Dept/ Agency Wales Per cent. of Dept/ Agency Grand Total 
		
		
			 DTI HQ (a) 219 5 3695 90  0 124 3 55 1 4093 
			 Companies House (c) 4 0 10 1   35 4 941 95 990 
			 Employment Tribunals Service (c) 633 73 143 17  0 62 7 27 3 865 
			 Insolvency Service (c) 970 71 354 26  0 6 0 39 3 1369 
			 National Weights and Measures Lab (c) 56 100  0  0  0  0 56 
			 Patent Office (c)  0 2 0  0  0 922 100 924 
			 Radiocommunications Agency (c) 167 30 361 65 6 1 12 2 9 2 555 
			 Small Business 
			 Service (c) 213 92 18 8  0  0  0 231 
			 Grand Total 2262 25 4583 50 6 0 239 3 1993 22 9083

Secondments

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, pursuant to her answer of 21 June, Official Report, column 593W, how many people from organisations outside her Department were seconded to start work in her Department between 1 January 1999 and 31 December 2001.

Patricia Hewitt: Centrally held records show that 133 inward secondments have started between 1 January 1999 and 31 December 2001.

Departmental Staff

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many staff were seconded to her Department in (a) 1997–98, (b) 1998–99, (c) 1999–2000, (d) 2000–01 and (e) 2001–02 from (i) KPMG, (ii) KPMG Consulting, (iii) Deloitte and Touche, (iv) PWC, (v) PWC Consulting, (vi) Ernst and Young, (vii) EY Cap Gemini and (viii) Grant Thornton; what position each held; and if she will make a statement.

Patricia Hewitt: holding answer 22 July 2002
	Since 2000–01 we have recorded centrally the DTI grade range and posts held by inward secondees. Before 2000–01 we recorded centrally only the DTI grade range and the Directorate to which each secondee was attached. All of this information relating to the businesses listed is given in the attached table.
	All secondments into the Department are subject to contractual agreements, including provisions on avoidance of conflict of interest.

Business Ethics Training

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry 
	(1)  what staff grades within her Department are given business ethics training;
	(2)  what amount of business ethics training she has given to her staff, broken down by how many (a) staff have received the training and (b) training days; and if she will make a statement;
	(3)  what companies have given her Department business ethics training in the last five years; and how much this cost;
	(4)  what business ethics training is given to her staff; and if she will make a statement.

Patricia Hewitt: holding answer 22 July 2002
	Business ethics and corporate governance are discussed periodically at Board level. The Department does not provide specific business ethics training to all staff, but ensures that all are aware of the Civil Service Code (which covers Service ethics more broadly).
	DTI staff working on the regulatory framework for companies, professions and employment, and on DTI policy towards corporate social responsibility, are aware of the ethical issues in these sectors. In some areas, for example in relation to auditors, the DTI has a formal role in underpinning ethical requirements. Heads of Management Unit in these areas have devolved responsibility for specialised training. This is not centrally recorded.

Special Advisers

Andrew Tyrie: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the (a) dates, (b) location and (c) sources were of attributable (i) articles, interviews or contributions for the media, books or other journals and (ii) speeches or presentations made in the public domain, by departmental special advisers since March 2001; who in her Department authorised the activity; and on what date this activity was recorded with the departmental Head of Information.

Patricia Hewitt: I refer the hon. Member to my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister's answer of 24 July, Official Report, column 1373W.

Special Advisers

Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry which special advisers assist her in identifying priorities for encouraging and stimulating new businesses in rural areas.

Patricia Hewitt: My special advisers offer advice to me on a wide range of policy issues, including small business matters where appropriate.
	A description of the role and duties of special advisers is set down in the Code of Conduct for Special Advisers.

Public Consultations

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will list the public consultations undertaken by her Department since 8 June 2001, indicating the (a) length and (b) number of responses received in each case.

Patricia Hewitt: The consultations undertaken by the Department since June 2001 are as follows:
	Commission proposal for a directive on the working conditions of temporary (agency) workers.
	Company Investigations: Powers for the 21 Century
	Concerns about gas prices and possible improvements to market efficiency
	Developing Energy Policy—Key Issues for Consultation for the White Paper
	Directive 2000/53/EC on End of Life Vehicles
	Directors' Home Addresses
	Directors Remuneration
	Discussion document on electronic signatures directive implementing regulations
	Discussion Paper on a Possible Producer Responsibility Model for Used Tyres
	EC Green Paper on Corporate Social Responsibility
	EC Green Paper on the review of the ECMR
	Employment status in relation to statutory employment rights.
	Final consultation on Fixed Term Work
	Flexible working
	General Product Safety Directive
	Guidance on applications for resolution of disputes over third party access to Oil and Gas Infrastructure
	ICANN and the Management of the Internet Domain Name system
	IT Security Industry in connection with the Private Security Industry Act
	Joint DTI/DCMS consultation on the Draft Communications Bill
	Maternity and parental leave, and paternity and adoption leave and pay
	Modernising Company Law
	Modernising The Consumer Credit Act 1974
	Modernising trading standards
	Proposal on the EU Statute for a European Co-operative Society
	Proposals to Tighten Consumer Protection against Short Measure of Draught
	Beer and Cider
	Proposed amendments to Part-Time Workers Regulations
	Proposed changes to the legislation that deals with price marking of food and drink served in bars, restaurants, and cafes
	Proposed changes to the Price Marking (Food and Drink on Premises) Order 1979
	Reform of EC Competition Regime
	Report of the Task Force on Car Servicing and Repair
	Review into the case for Government support for cleaner coal technology demonstration plant
	Routes to Resolution: Improving dispute resolution in Britain
	Second Consultation on Proposed Modifications to Licence Conditions and Ofgem Guidelines
	Second consultation on the Directive 1999/44/EC on certain aspects of the sale of consumer goods and associated guarantees
	The DTI Race Equality Scheme
	The E-Commerce Directive (2000/31/EC): draft implementing Regulations and interim guidance for business
	The preliminary decision to add new user groups to the approved users list in the Airwave mm02 Telecommunications Act licence
	The Pressure Equipment Regulations 1999
	The process for identifying the GB system operator (GBSO)
	The proposed amendment to Directive 94/62/EC on Packaging and Packaging Waste
	The UNIDROIT/ICAO Draft Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment
	Towards Equality and Diversity: Implementing the Employment and Race Directives
	Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 1981 (TUPE) reform
	Treasury Shares
	Under-Investment in University Research Infrastructure
	Young Workers Directive
	The Department is required to comply with the Consultation Code of Practice requiring a period of at least 12 weeks for responses to public consultations. Records relating to consultations the compliance with Criterion 5 of the consultation Code are currently being compiled. I will write to the hon. Member with the requested information as soon as possible and place a copy in the Libraries of the House. Information on the number of responses in each consultation exercise is not held centrally.

Public Consultations

Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what public consultations have been commenced by her Department since 1 April; and what the (a) closing date and (b) website address of each were.

Patricia Hewitt: The public consultations commenced by the Department since 1 April are as follows:
	Commission proposal for a directive on the working conditions of temporary (agency) workers (closes 18 October 2002)
	Developing Energy Policy—Key Issues for Consultation for the White Paper (closes 13 September 2002)
	Employment status in relation to statutory employment rights. (closes 11 December 2002)
	Flexible working (closes 10 October 2002)
	Joint DTI/DCMS consultation on the Draft Communications Bill (closes 2 August 2002)
	Maternity and parental leave, and paternity and adoption leave and pay: consultation on draft regulations (closes 19 July 2002)
	Modernising Company Law (closes 30 November 2002)
	The DTI Race Equality Scheme (closes 20 September 2002)
	The preliminary decision to add new user groups to the approved users list in the Airwave mm02 Telecommunications Act licence (closes 5 June 2002)
	The process for identifying the GB system operator (GBSO) (closes 12 July 2002)
	Young Workers Directive (closes 6 September 2002)
	All DTI consultation documents are published on the Department's website at www.dti.gov.uk

Law Enforcement Agencies

Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what statutory law enforcement agencies and prosecuting authorities there are within the responsibility of her Department; and what complaints procedure is available for each.

Patricia Hewitt: holding answer 16 May 2002
	There are no statutory law enforcement agencies and prosecuting authorities within the responsibility of my Department; prosecutions are brought by the Department itself. The Department's basic procedure for dealing with complaints is that, if someone has a complaint, they should initially go back to their original contact in the Department; if the complainant is not satisfied with the response, they are invited to contact the official's line manager; if the problem still cannot be resolved, the matter is referred to the Head of the Management Unit for review. This procedure does not affect the complainant's right to approach, via an MP, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration or myself.

Statutory Instruments

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many statutory instruments have been (a) introduced, (b) removed and (c) amended by her Department since 1 January; and what the (i) cost and (ii) saving has been in each case.

Patricia Hewitt: 52 statutory instruments have been made by DTI since the beginning of 2002. These SIs revoked a total of 16 earlier SIs, and amended a total of 17 earlier SIs.
	The cost and saving information could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Departmental Expenditure Limit

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much and what proportion of the departmental expenditure limit for 2002–03 will be accounted for by staff costs; what the figures were for 2001–02; and if she will make a statement.

Patricia Hewitt: Pay negotiations for 2002–03 have not yet been finalised. Therefore, planned pay costs as a proportion of total planned expenditure is not yet available.
	The total resources of the Department for 2001–02 are shown in Table 1 of The Government's Expenditure Plans (Cm 5416), and the Department's admin expenditure is detailed in Table 5 of the same publication.

Departmental Policies (Wycombe)

Paul Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will list the activities pursued by her Department that have had a particular impact on the Wycombe constituency since 7 June 2001.

Alan Johnson: The Department of Trade and Industry has funded a number of initiatives that have been delivered through the Small Business Service to help the economy in the Wycombe area. To date, a total of £518,856 of this funding has been spent since June 7 2001. This has included a Business Recovery fund (£9,000), a Diagnostic and Consultancy Scheme (£45,385), and International Trade Advice (£36,063).

Parliamentary Questions

Theresa May: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when she will answer the question of 17 June, 2002, from the hon. Member for Maidenhead, ref 464, on the Government's policy towards the independence of the economic regulators of privatised utilities.

Patricia Hewitt: I have answered today.

Parliamentary Answers

Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether it is her policy to ensure that documents referred to in parliamentary answers are available via her Department's website.

Patricia Hewitt: Departmental policy is that all documents published by DTI are available via the department's website. The policy on retention and archiving of elements of the website is currently under review.

Parliamentary Answers

Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry for how long she retains documents referred to in parliamentary answers on his Department's website.

Patricia Hewitt: Departmental policy is that all documents published by DTI are available via the department's website. The policy on retention and archiving of elements of the website is currently under review.

Parliamentary Answers

Andrew Tyrie: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when she will answer the written question from the hon. Member for Chichester, tabled on 22 May, on the official travel of departmental and non-departmental special advisers.

Patricia Hewitt: According to Part 1 of the Order Book for 22 May, there was not a question on this subject tabled to me from the hon. Member.

Regulation

Andrew Hunter: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of (a) the Better Regulation Task Force and (b) the Ministerial Panel for Regulatory Accountability in strengthening the systems which control the regulatory burden.

Douglas Alexander: I have been asked to reply. 
	The Government is committed to ensuring that regulations are fair and effective. The Better Regulation Task Force and the Panel on Regulatory Accountability, together with the Regulatory Impact Unit, are working together to achieve this goal. The Better Regulation Task Force has recently announced its new work programme. It will be reviewing:
	alternatives to state regulation;
	independent (non-economic) regulators;
	the difficulties faced by small firms doing business with the public sector; and
	regulatory issues associated with "producer responsibility" for the disposal of goods at the end of their lives.
	To date, the Task Force has published 21 substantive reports, together making over 300 recommendations.
	It is established practice under Exemption 2 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information that information relating to the proceedings of Cabinet Committee business is not disclosed.

Credit Unions

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what actions she has taken to promote the use of credit unions; and if she will make a statement.

Ruth Kelly: I have been asked to reply.
	Credit unions have an important role to play in tackling financial exclusion and enhancing opportunity, through the provision of core financial services. That is why we have been involved in initiatives to help the movement grow. We are delivering a programme of strategic deregulation to enable credit unions to offer a greater range of services to their members.
	Through the Financial Services and Markets Act we have brought credit unions under the regulatory supervision of the Financial Services Authority and given depositors with credit unions similar protection to those with banks or building societies. The new regulatory system, combined with our programme of deregulation, will give the movement a strong position from which to build and thrive.

Credit Unions

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will include nuclear energy generation in an emissions trading scheme.

Michael Meacher: I have been asked to reply.
	For target-holders, the UK Emissions Trading Scheme places the responsibility for emissions created by the generation of power with the end user of that power. This provides a strong incentive for energy users to increase their efficiency and to reduce emissions at the point of use. Therefore, if generators were also covered there would be a risk of double counting, where the generators could count emissions reductions made by down-stream users. Therefore, nuclear energy generation is not included in the UK Emissions Trading Scheme.

Nuclear Power

Debra Shipley: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on the progress the Government have made under the Ospar Convention to reduce nuclear discharges from Sellafield into the Irish Sea.

Margaret Beckett: I have been asked to reply.
	The UK Strategy for Radioactive Discharges 2001–20 will be published very shortly. This will show how the UK will implement the OSPAR Radioactive Substances Strategy. The aim of that Strategy is to ensure progressive reduction of concentrations of radioactive substances in the marine environment so that by 2020 they are close to zero to historic levels.
	Radioactive discharges from Sellafield have decreased dramatically over the past 25 years, to around 1 per cent. of their peak levels in the 1970s. The Strategy will show that further substantial reductions will be made in the period to 2020. The Environment Agency has carried out a full review of discharge authorisations at Sellafield and are expected to announce their draft decision soon. It will then be for me as Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Secretary of State for Health to decide whether we wish to exercise our statutory powers before any changes are put into effect. The Secretary of State for Health and I expect to announce shortly whether we wish to exercise our statutory powers in relation to the Agency's proposed decision on discharges of technetium-99 from Sellafield.

Nuclear Power

Ian Davidson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the estimated clean up costs are for each (a) current and (b) past nuclear power station.

Brian Wilson: The estimated cost of decommissioning depends on the strategy adopted by the operator and agreed with the relevant nuclear regulators. BNFL and British Energy publish annual accounts that include information on their respective nuclear provisions, including provisions for decommissioning and waste management, and the basis of their approach to decommissioning.

Nuclear Power

Ian Davidson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what limit is set on the financial liability of nuclear operators for damage arising from a nuclear accident; and if she will make a statement.

Brian Wilson: With regard to liability of the UK nuclear industry in the event of a nuclear accident, the UK is a Contracting party to the Paris and Brussels Conventions on Third Party Liability in the Field of Nuclear Energy. One of the underlying principles of the Paris Convention is that all liability arising from a nuclear accident is channelled to the operator of the nuclear installation on a no fault basis. Present UK legislation requires operators to cover their liability by insurance, (the Nuclear Installations Act 1965) and operator's liability is currently limited to a maximum £140 million per accident.
	Liability amounts are reviewed by the UK along with our international partners and the Paris and Brussels Conventions are currently in the process of revision with a view to substantially increase the operator's liability to £430 million per accident.

Nuclear Waste Disposal

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on the timetable for deciding on the disposal of medium-level nuclear waste.

Michael Meacher: I have been asked to reply.
	We propose to press ahead with a review of waste management options. The review will seek the views of interested stakeholders, the public and government departments. We will appoint an independent body to oversee the review process which will make recommendations on the option, or combination of options, for managing radioactive waste which would achieve long-term protection for people and the environment. We will review all options—including surface storage and underground disposal—and revise the timetable to a four stage process rather than five as proposed in the original consultation.
	The waste from our existing nuclear facilities will arise over the next century or so. So we intend, in assessing management options, to include not only materials currently classified as waste but also to consider the consequences of providing for other materials which may have to be managed as waste during the period, such as some separated plutonium, and uranium, as well as certain quantities of spent nuclear fuel.
	We propose that the new body will be in place by the end of the year. Over the summer and autumn, we shall publish more detailed proposals. These will include details of the new body and its terms of reference. They will also address pressing issues such as arrangements for managing waste safely in the short-term and an announcement on waste substitution. We shall report progress on the other issues covered in the consultation, including decommissioning nuclear sites, the powers of the Environment Agencies, managing spent sealed sources of radioactivity, and waste classification.

Carbon Dioxide Emissions

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution's advocacy of a 60 per cent. carbon dioxide reduction by 2050.

Michael Meacher: I have been asked to reply.
	The Government will respond formally to all the recommendations in the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution's twenty-second report—"Energy—the Changing Climate"—alongside publication of the Energy White Paper, which is due around the turn of the year.

Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when she will formally reply to the RCEP's recent proposals.

Michael Meacher: I have been asked to reply.
	The Government will respond formally to all the recommendations in the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution's twenty-second report— "Energy—the Changing Climate"—alongside publication of the Energy White Paper, which is due around the turn of the year.

Johannesburg Summit

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps she is taking to offset the carbon emissions (a) she personally and (b) the British Government delegation will account for in their attendance at the forthcoming earth summit in Johannesburg.

Michael Meacher: holding answer 22 July 2002
	I have been asked to reply.
	The carbon emissions caused by the government delegation's travel to and attendance at the World Summit on Sustainable Development have been offset through our participation in the Johannesburg Climate Legacy Project.

TREASURY

Working Families Tax Credit

James Clappison: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many (a) investigations, (b) penalties and (c) prosecutions have been instituted since 31 December 2001 in respect of working families tax credit fraud.

Dawn Primarolo: During the period 1 January 2002 to 30 June 2002, 13,305 investigations have been opened by the issue of the Inland Revenue's Code of Practice on enquiries, 334 penalties determined and 25 prosecutions instituted in respect of Working Families Tax Credit and Disabled Persons Tax Credit.

Working Families Tax Credit

James Clappison: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to his answer of 25 June to the hon. Member for Havant, Official Report, column 763W, on Working Families Tax Credit, when the Inland Revenue completed its compliance benchmarking exercise; when it began to analyse it; when he expects to receive it; and what the administrative cost was of the benchmarking exercise.

Dawn Primarolo: The Inland Revenue began analysing the results of compliance benchmarking exercise on Working Families' Tax Credit in February 2002 and that work is continuing. It is not possible to ascertain the specific costs of this exercise because the work was undertaken as part of routine compliance casework.

Working Families Tax Credit

James Clappison: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the extent of fraud in the child care element of working families tax credit; and how many (a) investigations and (b) prosecutions have been instituted into fraud in the childcare element of WFTC since 31 December 2001.

Dawn Primarolo: The childcare element is only one component of both Working Families' Tax Credit and Disabled Person's Tax Credits (WFTC and DPTC). During the period 1 January 2002 and 30 June 2002, 13,305 investigations of WFTC or DPTC awards were opened by the issue of the Inland Revenue's Code of Practice on enquiries, but it is not possible to say how many of these were in relation to childcare charges. During the period, one of the twenty-five prosecutions was instituted as a result of the falsification of childcare documentation.

Physical Activity

John Greenway: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment has been made of the success of the Public Service Agreement with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to raise significantly the average time spent on sport and physical activity by those aged five to 16 years.

Richard Caborn: holding answer 23 July 2002
	I have been asked to reply.
	I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave the hon. Member for Wyre Forest (Richard Taylor) on 23 July, Official Report, column 975W.

WALES

Regulations (Cost-effectiveness)

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what discussions he has had with the First Minister about the cost effectiveness of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 (Electronic Communications) (Wales) Regulations.

Paul Murphy: Unfortunately, due to an administrative error, this question was missed. I can, though, now provide you with a full answer:
	These are matters for the National Assembly for Wales. Section 65 of the Government of Wales Act 1998 provides for an appraisal of the costs and benefits of complying with Assembly general subordinate legislation to be carried out before a draft of the statutory instruments is laid before the Assembly.

Public Consultations

Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list the public consultations undertaken by his Department since 1997, indicating for each consultation (a) if copies were available online, (b) if copies were available in print, (c) the date the time period given for responses opened and (d) the date the time period given for responses closed.

Paul Murphy: It was necessary to check through a number of files to obtain the relevant details and the final pieces of information did not arrive until after the deadline for responses on 24 July. I can, though, now provide a full answer to your question as follows:
	Since its creation in July 1999 my Department has undertaken consultation on the following:
	"Greater Protection and Better Management of Common Land in England and Wales". Copies were available online and in print. Consultation ran from 15 February to 26 July 2000.
	"Amendments to the Government's Proposals for New Assisted Areas". Copies were available online and in print. Consultation ran from 10 April to 2 May 2000.
	"Proposals to change the Administration of the Housing Transfer Programme". Copies were available online and in print. Consultation ran from 14 July to 31 August 2000.
	"Government Proposal for the Reform of Business Tenancies" (jointly with Department of Transport, Local Government and the Regions). Copies were available online and in print. Consultation ran from 19 March to 30 June 2001.
	"Draft NHS (Wales) Bill". Copies were available online and in print. Consultation ran from 17 May to 5 July 2002.
	"Draft Mental Health Bill" (jointly with Department of Health). Copies are available online and in print. Consultation is running currently from 25 June to 16 September 2002.

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER

Crime Reduction Directors

Brian Cotter: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will list the amount allocated to each of the regional crime reduction directors.

John Denham: I have been asked to reply.
	I refer the hon. Member to the response I gave the hon. Member for Castle Point (Robert Spink), on 22 July 2002, Official Report, column 863W.

Retail Crime

Brian Cotter: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister 
	(1)  if he will list for each Government office in the regions what proportion of the office's annual spend for 2001–02 was allocated to combating retail crime;
	(2)  if he will list for each statutory crime and disorder partnership the amount spent on retail crime partnerships in the financial year 2001–02.

John Denham: I have been asked to reply.
	The attached table shows the amounts spent by regional crime reduction directors specifically on retail crime reduction initiatives in 2001–02 and shows these as a proportion of their total spending on crime reduction initiatives. These figures do not include funding spent on non-specific schemes, such as town centre Close Circuit Television (CCTV), which may also benefit retailers in the areas where they operate.
	The Home Office does not record the amounts spent on retail crime partnerships in each of the 376 statutory crime and disorder partnerships.
	
		
			 Column 1 Column 2 Column 3 
			 Region Spend on retail crime projects in 2001–02 (£) Column 2 as a proportion of annual spending of regional crime reduction directors in 2001–02 (per cent.) 
		
		
			 Eastern 132,262 1.0 
			 East Midlands 221,064 1.4 
			 London 336,225 1.1 
			 North East 248,668 2.2 
			 North West 561,864 2.3 
			 South East 251,500 1.4 
			 South West 94,549 0.7 
			 Wales 132,262 1.6 
			 West Midlands 469,199 2.6 
			 Yorkshire and Humber 325,128 1.7

Accommodation (Review)

Don Foster: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will place in the Library his Department's last accommodation requirements review.

Christopher Leslie: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is assessing its future accommodation requirements in the light of the Machinery of Government changes in June 2002 and will be reviewing the position in the Autumn. No documents are currently available.

Empty Properties

Bob Russell: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many dwellings he estimates are empty in each local authority area in (a) Essex and (b) Suffolk.

Tony McNulty: The information presented in the table below is taken from the 2001 Housing Investment Programme Housing Strategy Statistical Appendix.
	
		
			  LA RSL Other Public Sector Private Sector Of which owner occupied 
		
		
			 Essex  
			 Tendering 57 7 8 740 # 
			 Colchester 114 25 368 2255 # 
			 Malden 0 18 0 1250 1250 
			 Rochford 33 4 0 724 617 
			 Southend 180 33 0 1680 # 
			 Castle Point 18 0 0 1280 # 
			 Basildon 183 33 4 1313 1256 
			 Thurrock 186 3 0 1788 # 
			 Brentwood 52 8 6 657 # 
			 Epping 148 25 0 1739 # 
			 Harlow 159 20 2 429 407 
			 Uttlesford 30 0 0 # # 
			 Braintree 46 # 148 1968 # 
			 Chelmsford 46 # 7 1486 # 
			 Suffolk  
			 Forest Heath 13 0 # 585 # 
			 St Edmunds 33 0 0 1010 788 
			 Mid Suffolk 32 5 0 1437 1353 
			 Babergh 29 3 0 626 # 
			 Ipswich 51 77 10 1686 1349 
			 Suffolk Coastal 5 47 0 2282 1803 
			 Waveney 147 13 6 1230 # 
		
	
	# = no figure returned
	Local Authority dwellings are those which the authority owns within the authority area
	Registered Social Landlord dwellings are those owned or leased by landlords registered with the Housing Corporation.
	Other public sector dwellings cover those owned by the authority for non-housing purposes and by other authorities inside the LA area. Housing Action Trusts, government departments and other public sector agencies (e.g. Regional Health Authorities, Forestry Commission and county councils).
	Other private sector is defined as all privately owned dwellings
	The total number of vacant dwellings in a district can be estimated using council tax records, or a local survey if available, and have the same coverage of dwellings except that second homes, holiday lets, dwellings in unlicensed accommodation, and flats and houses normally occupied by students should not be included. Vacants include dwellings that are empty between changing occupants or undergoing modernisation, repair or conversion, or awaiting demolition; or newly completed but not occupied.
	These figures relate to those returned by local authorities in July 2002 as part of the annual Housing Investment Programme returns. This years round is now underway and local authorities are due to submit figures to OPDM by 31 July 2002.

Affordable Housing

Andrew Love: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what evaluation has been made of the potential of modular assembly in the construction of affordable housing; and if he will make a statement.

Tony McNulty: Modular housing has the potential to offer significant time savings and potential cost reduction in provision of affordable housing particularly in high density, urban housing schemes as illustrated by the Peabody Trust development at Murray Grove, Hackney. It is still a developing area and we will be taking a close interest in what it can offer as part of a solution to housing need.

Housing Corporation

Alan Hurst: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how much funding has been granted to the Housing Corporation in each of the years 1990 to 2001.

Tony McNulty: The expenditure by the Housing Corporation for each of the following years 1990–91 to 2001–02 is shown below. The figures include capital and revenue grants to housing associations, and the Corporation's administrative expenditure.
	
		
			  £m 
		
		
			 1990–91 920.0 
			 1991–92 1,870.7 
			 1992–93 2,670.6 
			 1993–94 2,326.9 
			 1994–95 2,098.9 
			 1995–96 1,753.4 
			 1996–97 1,638.1 
			 1997–98 1,327.8 
			 1998–99 1,245.8 
			 1999–2000 1,329.9 
			 2000–01 1,404.9 
			 2001–02 1,421.5 
		
	
	Source:
	Housing Corporation Annual Accounts (Income and Expenditure Account).
	The Housing Corporation accounts for 2001–02 are due to be published shortly. A copy will be placed in the House library.

Home Extensions

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what statutory restrictions there are on people who want to build extensions to their home.

Tony McNulty: A range of statutory consents may be required depending on the particular circumstances. These may include: planning permission, listed building consent, conservation area consent and building regulations approval. Other consents may also be required. For example, if the proposed development would obstruct a public path, it may require an order to divert or close it.
	The Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) Order 1995 sets out categories of permitted development, where an application for planning permission would not be required. This includes the building of a house extension in certain defined circumstances. The Department's booklet "Planning, A Guide for Householders" provides advice to home owners on the need for planning permission. (This is available on our website at www.planning.odpm.gov.uk/ householders/index.htm) Home owners are advised to consult their local authority before beginning any works.

Planning Application (Seller Properties)

Simon Hughes: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister when he received the planning application submitted to the London Borough of Southwark on behalf of Sellar Properties by Healey and Baker, registered as LBS application reference 0100476 and granted planning permission by LBS on 11 March, subject to call in by the Secretary of State; when he expects to make a decision on whether to call in the application for public inquiry; and if he will make a statement.

Tony McNulty: This application was referred to the Secretary of State following approval by LB Southwark and was received on 19 March. The Secretary of State called this application in for public inquiry earlier today.

Out-of-Town Shopping Centres

Keith Vaz: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many appeals have been made concerning applications for out-of-town shopping centres; and how many have been successful since 7 June.

Tony McNulty: The information requested on the location of appeals made and decided is not readily available and could only be made so at disproportionate cost.

Urban Allotment Land

Andrew Love: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what action is being taken to protect urban allotment land from development; and if he will make a statement.

Tony McNulty: Section 8 of the Allotments Act 1925 requires local authorities to obtain the Secretary of State's consent for the disposal of any statutory allotment site. In February this year, guidance was issued to local authorities clarifying and strengthening the criteria against which consent decisions are made.
	In addition, we have recently published a revision of Planning Policy Guidance Note 17: Planning for Open Space, Sport and Recreation, which provides enhanced protection through the planning system to all typed of open space, including allotments.

Local Government Expenditure

Virginia Bottomley: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the per capita central Government funding is for local government expenditure on (a) Surrey and (b) Durham.

Nick Raynsford: Local authorities, including police authorities, within Durham and Surrey budgeted to receive £920 and £630 government grant per head in 2002–03, respectively. Government grant here consists of revenue support grant, non-domestic rates, specific grants inside aggregate external finance and police grant. These figures do not include capital grants or grants paid to the Housing Revenue Account.
	Budgeted revenue expenditure, financed from the grants referred to above, council taxes and reserves, was £1,246 per head in Durham and £1,052 per head in Surrey. For each area, almost all of the locally raised expenditure was budgeted to come from council taxes: £315 per head in Durham and £413 per head in Surrey.
	The figures quoted above for Durham include grants receivable in Darlington, which is now a unitary authority. This is because Durham Police Authority covers the areas of both Durham County Council and Darlington Borough Council, and a separate figure is not available for the grant receivable by Durham Police Authority for the area of Durham County Council.

Homelessness (Castle Point)

Bob Spink: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will intervene in respect of Castle Point Borough Council to ensure that the local homelessness problem is tackled.

Tony McNulty: The Homelessness Directorate within my Department has recently been set up to ensure that homelessness is tackled effectively and officials will be working closely with local authorities to assist them in the development of their homelessness strategies over the coming year.
	Latest figures for the first quarter of 2002–03 indicate that on average 0.1 households per 1,000 in Castle Point are accepted as being in priority need for accommodation. The area currently has around 20 families with children in B and B accommodation.
	Officials from the Homelessness Directorate have discussed with the authority how this number can be reduced and have encouraged Castle Point to put in a bid for a share of the £10 million available to local authorities to support their homelessness strategy. These resources will be additional to Castle Point's share of the £8 million the Government has already allocated through Revenue Support Grant to implement the Homelessness Act. Castle Point will also receive a share of £10 million which is about to be allocated to local authorities to assist in the implementation of the Priority Need Order. The Directorate will be monitoring the Authority's progress closely.

High Hedges

Andrew Love: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what powers are available to local authorities to mediate in disputes involving the problems of high hedges and rapidly growing trees; and if he will make a statement.

Nick Raynsford: Local authorities currently have no specific powers to intervene in disputes involving the problems of high hedges and rapidly growing trees. The Government is, however, committed to bringing forward new laws, which would allow local authorities to deal with complaints about high hedges, as soon as Parliamentary time can be found.

Job Locations

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many jobs under the remit of his Department in (a) the core department, (b) non-departmental public bodies, (c) executive agencies and (d) independent statutory bodies, organisations and bodies financially sponsored by his Department and other such organisations, are located in (i) Scotland, (ii) England, excluding Greater London, (iii) Greater London, (iv) Wales, (v) Northern Ireland and (vi) overseas, broken down by (A) whole-time equivalent jobs and (B) the percentage per individual department, body or organisation.

Christopher Leslie: I would refer the right hon. Lady to the table below which shows the position within the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister at 1 June 2002:
	
		
			 Office of Deputy Prime Minister Full Time Equivalent Location 
		
		
			 Core Department 1 . 1,856 London, South East, Midlands and the NW 
			 Government Offices 2,360 English Regions which consists of: 
			   East of England—Cambridge 
			   East Midlands—Nottingham 
			   London 
			   North East—Newcastle-upon-Tyne 
			   North West—Liverpool and Manchester 
			   South East—Guildford 
			   South West—Bristol, Plymouth and Truro 
			   West Midlands—Birmingham 
			   Yorkshire and The Humber—Leeds 
			 Executive Agencies 2 . 1,744 which consists of:-  
			 Fire Service College. 180 Gloucestershire 
			 The Planning Inspectorate. 667 Bristol and Cardiff 
			 Queen Elizabeth 2 Conference Centre. 55 London 
			 The Rent Service. 842 Throughout England 
			 Grand Total 5,960  
		
	
	1 .The core department for the Office for the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) employs approximately 1,856 staff. This figure is composed of staff working on policy areas and includes an estimate of 50 per cent. of the support staff who worked for the former Department of Transport, Local Government and the Regions (DTLR). This figure may change when re-structuring is complete and final decisions have been taken on how support staff are to be allocated to the Office for the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) and Department for Transport (DfT).
	2 . The figures for the Executive Agencies are estimates—based on their plans for year 2002–03 and are taken from the DTLR (C) Departmental Annual Report 2002.
	I will write to the hon. Member with details for non-departmental public bodies and independent statutory bodies in due course.
	It has not been possible to calculate the percentage per individual department, body or organisation as we do not have a breakdown of the total figures by region.

Public Consultations

Andrew Turner: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what public consultations have been commenced by his Department since 1 April; and what the (a) closing date and (b) website address of each were.

Christopher Leslie: A list of the public consultations by the Office or its predecessors since 1 April 2002 has been placed in the Library, including the closing dates for responses and the website address of each document. The list is based on central records and reflects the public consultations undertaken within the areas for which the Office is currently responsible.

Information Campaigns

David Willetts: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Westmorland and Lonsdale (Mr. Collins) of 27 February 2002, Official Report, column 1362W, if he will list the campaigns managed by the Central Office of Information in each of the last five financial years; and what the (a) costs and (b) advertising agencies that received contracts for each campaign were.

Douglas Alexander: I have been asked to reply.
	Tables listing the advertising campaigns managed by the Central Office of Information in each of the last five financial years with their costs and the advertising agencies contracted have today been placed in the libraries of the House.

Air-Conditioning

Jonathan Sayeed: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what actions his Department has taken to communicate to (a) the Chartered Institute of Building Services Engineers and (b) the Building Services Journal the Government's policy on the use of HFC refrigerants in air-conditioning.

Michael Meacher: I have been asked to reply.
	The Government issued the UK Climate Change Programme in November 2000 and its publication was widely publicised. The Programme sets out the key elements of the Government's policy on HFCs to enable industry and users to make investment decisions with more certainty.
	My officials are now writing to the Building Services Engineers and the Building Services Journal enclosing details of the policy on HFC use in air-conditioning systems.

Formaldehyde Emissions

George Howarth: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what proposals he has to change the regulations on industrial formaldehyde emissions in the light of HSE advice on the levels of concentration at which strong odours occur.

Michael Meacher: I have been asked to reply.
	Risks to worker health from formaldehyde are already addressed by the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 1999 (COSHH). The Health and Safety Commission has approved Maximum Exposure Limits (MELs) for formaldehyde at 2 ppm (parts per million by volume) as an 8-hour time-weighted average, and 2 ppm as a short-term limit with a 15-minute reference period. Under COSHH, exposure by inhalation to a substance with a maximum exposure limit must be reduced as far as is reasonably practicable, and in any case below the MEL.
	In its documentation summarising the criteria for setting MELs, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) states that formaldehyde has a threshold of detection by smell at around 0.8 ppm. An earlier HSE Toxicity Review notes that the threshold for odour detection varies among individuals, with values in the range 0.05–1 ppm having been reported; it is expected that all would detect the odour at the latter value. HSE has issued no further advice relating odour to concentration; it does not normally seek to offer advice on odour problems.
	Industrial formaldehyde emissions to the wider environment are currently regulated by local authorities or, where larger industrial processes are concerned, by the Environment Agency, under the provisions of the Environment Protection Act 1990. Each industrial process requires an authorisation from the regulator. Where formaldehyde emissions are likely to cause environmental harm, each authorisation will contain conditions designed to limit its release. The regulator may at any time vary those conditions if it considers that necessary.
	The regulatory system established by the 1990 Act is gradually being replaced—from now to mid-2007—by that set out in the Pollution Prevention and Control (England and Wales) Regulations 2000. Each industrial installation will require a permit, which must contain conditions relating to formaldehyde emissions if these are likely to be significant to human health or human senses, or to impair or interfere with amenities and other legitimate uses of the environment.

CABINET OFFICE

Arms Exports

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the oral statement of the hon. Member for Edinburgh, South (Nigel Griffiths) of 24 June 2002, Official Report, column 635, of criterion 8 of the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing criteria; whether the review is devising a series of tests to determine whether an arms export may compromise the sustainable development of a developing country; when he expects the review to be completed; and how the Government intends to inform Parliament of the outcome of the review.

Nigel Griffiths: I have been asked to reply.
	I refer my hon. Friend to the detailed reply given by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry on 31 July.

Women (Consultation)

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office which women's organisations have been consulted over proposed legislation by his Department during 2000–01 and 2001–02 sessions; and if their responses have been published.

Douglas Alexander: The Cabinet Office consulted on the proposed Regulatory Reform Bill in March and September 1999. The Women's National Commission was consulted, but did not respond. The Regulatory Reform Act received Royal Assent on 10 April 2001.

Communications Bill

Philip Hammond: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office which Government Department will have lead responsibility for the Communications Bill when it is introduced for Second Reading.

Stephen Timms: I have been asked to reply 
	The Communications Bill has been prepared jointly by the Department of Trade and Industry and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. Should the Bill be given a place in the legislative programme for the next session, both Departments will continue to take it forward jointly.

Departmental Report

Alan Beith: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what the cost was of publishing his Department's annual report for each of the past five years.

Douglas Alexander: The costs which can be identified are shown in the table. Some costs are met by the publisher and do not fall to Government.
	
		
			 Year Cost 
		
		
			 1998 £1,696 
			 1999 £6,251 
			 2000 £2,699 
			 2001 £25,248* 
			 2002 £23,177 
		
	
	* Included Main Estimates for 2001–02, an increased number of tables and an improved presentational format.
	The Cabinet Office's departmental report also incorporated the departmental report requirement and submissions for the Central Office of Information; the Office of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration and Health Service Commissioner for England; the Privy Council Office; House of Lords; House of Commons; National Audit Office and the Electoral Commission.

Departmental Report

Andrew Turner: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office 
	(1)  whether it is his policy to ensure that documents referred to in parliamentary answers are available via his Department's website;
	(2)  for how long he retains documents referred to in parliamentary answers on his Department's website.

Douglas Alexander: The Cabinet Office does not have a set time limit for documents to be retained on its website.
	Minimum requirements for the type of documents which should be published on Government websites are set out in guidance issued by the Office of the e-Envoy, "Guidelines for UK Government Websites" (Illustrated Handbook for web management teams—section 2.2 "What content should be on your website?" and section 2.3 "Cross-government requirements").
	In addition to setting out guidelines on documents for inclusion, the Guidance also explicitly requires Departments to ensure that the content of the site as a whole is up to date and current and, where it is necessary, to update the content of individual documents to show the latest date of amendment clearly on the document concerned.
	Section 1.2.7 deals with the issue of Records management and the Office of the e-Envoy currently has a consultation paper out on archiving websites. The purpose of this draft annex to the Illustrated handbook is to provide government website managers with a framework towards developing within their website management policy suitable procedures and systems to assist in the management, appraisal and preservation of electronic records. A copy of this draft is available online at http://ww.e-envoy.gov.uk/webguidelines.htm
	The Cabinet Office is in the process of updating its website to conform to these Guidelines.

Education Reform

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what progress his office has made in helping delivering reform of education services since the Comprehensive Spending Review.

Estelle Morris: I have been asked to reply. 
	Since the Comprehensive Spending Review 1998 the Government has put in place a number of reforms to raise standards of attainment, improve the quality of education and skills provision and invest in the workforce and physical infrastructure to deliver these reforms. The Department has met several of its targets and is making good progress towards almost all of the others. Further information can be found in the department's annual report on www.dfes.gov.uk/deptreport2002

Anglo-Irish Ministerial Meetings

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office on what dates ministers in his Department have held meetings with Ministers and officials of the Irish Government since 1 June 2000; where each meeting took place; which Ministers were involved in each meeting; which Irish Government departments were involved in each meeting; and which Ministers and officials from the Irish Government attended each meeting.

Douglas Alexander: There have been no bilateral meetings between Cabinet Office Ministers and Irish Government Ministers and officials since 1 June 2000.

NORTHERN IRELAND

Special Advisers

Andrew Tyrie: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland on how many occasions between 31 March 2001 and 31 March 2002 (a) departmental and (b) non-departmental special advisers have travelled abroad in an official capacity; what places were visited; and how much each visit cost.

Jane Kennedy: The information you have requested is not held centrally and could therefore only be provided at disproportionate cost.

North Belfast

Nigel Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the community background is in percentage terms of those juveniles prosecuted since 1 July 2001 arising out of disturbances in North Belfast.

Jane Kennedy: Although the existing database is currently being upgraded and the information on prosecutions since July 2001 will not be available until late summer 2002, it will not enable identification of the offender's community background.

Royal Prerogative

Alistair Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what decisions have been made by his Department in the last year under authority from the Royal Prerogative.

Jane Kennedy: Records are not kept of individual occassions on which powers under the Royal Prerogative are exercised, nor would it practicable to do so.

EU Directives

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will list the EU directives and regulations that have been implemented through his Department in 2002; and what was the cost of each to public funds.

Jane Kennedy: There have been no EU directives and regulations implemented through the Northern Ireland Office in 2002.

Buildings Insurance

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the cost of buildings insurance to his Department was (a) before and (b) after 11 September 2001.

Jane Kennedy: Departments are required to comply with the Government's general policy on insurance, which is set out in Government Accounting, Chapter 30, para. 30.2.5, which notes that government does not need to purchase insurance to protect the viability of its business, and should consider insurance only were the value of claims met would exceed the cost of insurance premiums. Commercial insurance of a building is acceptable in cases where (a) insurance is a condition of a lease (b) the lessor will not except a Government indemnity (c) incurring the total cost of the accommodation in question, including the cost of the insurance, is more cost-effective than other accommodation options [Government Accounting, para. 30.2.11a].
	The NIO occupies approximately 40 different properties, which are a mixture of commercially and publicly owned. In terms of building insurance, only a handful of premises pay for their own insurance costs directly (at a total value of less than £10,000). The rest either pay for insurance as part of a quarterly service charge (or it is inclusive with their rental) or claim indemnity as described above.
	Of these buildings which pay their own insurance, premiums have increased over the last year, however it is not possible to say how much of this years increase is directly related to September 11.

Public Consultations

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will list the public consultations undertaken by his Department since 8 June 2001, indicating the (a) length and (b) number of responses received in each case.

Jane Kennedy: The information requested is as follows:
	
		
			 Consultation Length Responses 
		
		
			 Northern Ireland Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme 2002 5 months 15 
			 Creating a Safer Northern Ireland through Partnership 3 months 31 
			 Consultation Paper on the Review of Part 1 of the Sex Offenders Act 1997 3 months 22 
			 Consultation of Rehabilitation of Offenders (Exceptions) (Amendment) (No2) Order (Northern Ireland) 2001 6 weeks 12 
			 Trainee Regulation 3 weeks 6 
			 Flags and Emblems Regulation 3.5 weeks 41 
			 Planning Regulation 6 weeks 3 
			 Code of Practice on the appointment of Independent members to District Policing Partnerships 14 months 20

Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission

Patsy Calton: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much is set aside for the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission for 2002–03.

Des Browne: A budget of £1.2 million has been made available for the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission for the financial year 2002–03.

Consultation

Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will list the public consultations undertaken by his Department since 1997, indicating for each consultation (a) if copies were available online, (b) if copies were available in print, (c) the date the time period given for responses opened and (d) the date the time period given for responses closed.

Jane Kennedy: The Cabinet Office Code of Practice on Written Consultation applies to all formal national public consultation documents issued by Departments from 1 January 2001 and the information requested is not available before that date. Since 2001, the details are as follows:
	
		
			 Consultation Available online Available In print Date opened Date closed 
		
		
			 Review of Part 1 of the Sex Offenders Act 1997 Yes Yes 16.07.01 19.10.01 
			 Police (Recruitment) (NI) Regulations 2001 No Yes 28.02.01 21.03.01 
			 Police Trainee Regulations (NI) 2001 No Yes 04.09.01 21.09.01 
			 Police Emblems and Flags Regulations (NI) 2002 Yes Yes 19.11.01 12.12.01 
			 The Police (NI Act) 2000 (Policing Plan) Regulations 2002 No Yes 21.12.01 01.02.02 
			 Code of Practice on the appointment of independent members to District Policing Partnerships No Yes 13.03.02 22.05.02 
			 Police Service of NI (Recruitment of Police Support Staff) Regulations (NI) 2002 No Yes 13.03.02 08.04.02 
			 Criminal Injuries Compensation (NI) Order 2002 Yes Yes 28.06.01 30.11.01 
			 Review of the Juvenile Justice Centre Estate Yes Yes 31.03.00 30.06.00 
			 Creating a Safer Northern Ireland Through Partnership Yes Yes 11.04.02 03.07.02 
			 The Rehabilitation of Offenders (Exceptions) (Amendment) (No 2) Order (NI) 2001 Yes Yes 24.09.01 26.10.01 
			 Proceeds of Crime Bill Consultation on Draft Legislation Yes Yes 05.03.01 29.05.01 
			 Criminal Justice Review (plus 18 research volumes) Yes Yes 30.03.00 29.09.00 
			 Review of the Criminal Justice system in Northern Ireland Yes Yes 12.11.01 07.01.02 
			 Draft Justice (NI) Bill/Implementation Plan

Parades Commission

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what has been the annual cost of the Parades Commission in Northern Ireland since its inception; and how much in allowances has been paid to those currently on the Commission.

Jane Kennedy: The annual cost of the Parades Commission since it's inception in March 1997 was:
	
		
			 1997–98 £613,564* 
		
		
			 1998–99 £1,066,220 
			 1999–2000 £1,023,559 
			 2000–01 £1,105,677 
			 2001–02 £1,119,807 
			 Total: £4,928,827 
		
	
	In relation to allowances, those on the Commission are entitled to mileage and subsistence allowances. It is not possible to identify these allowances from the total cost of travel.

Departmental Press Office

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many (a) full-time equivalents were employed by his press office and (b) secondees were placed in his press office in the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

Jane Kennedy: (a) The number of staff employed in the Information Service in the last five years is as follows:
	
		
			 April 1998 40 
		
		
			 April 1999 52 
			 April 2000 52 
			 April 2001 36 
			 April 2002 37 
		
	
	(b) There have not been any secondees placed in the Information Service in the last five years.

WORK AND PENSIONS

Pension Tax Credit

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the cost to the Exchequer will be of the pension tax credit when implemented for (a) 2003–04, (b) 2004–05, (c) 2005–06 and (d) 2006–07.

Ian McCartney: holding answer 24 July 2002
	I refer the hon. Member to the written answer I gave the hon. Member for Perth (Annabelle Ewing) on 24 July 2002. Official Report, column 1542W.

Benefits (London)

Andrew Love: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the total cost of (a) housing benefit and (b) council tax benefit in (i) the London Borough of Enfield and (ii) Greater London was in each of the last 10 years.

Malcolm Wicks: The information is in the table.
	
		Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit expenditure in the London Borough of Enfield and Greater London (£ millions)
		
			 London Borough of EnfieldGreater London 
			  Housing Benefit Council Tax Benefit Housing Benefit Council Tax Benefit 
		
		
			 1991–92 38 7 1,465 187 
			 1992–93 47 8 1,826 220 
			 1993–94 53 11 2,248 301 
			 1994–95 64 12 2,441 330 
			 1995–96 72 12 2,644 373 
			 1996–97 78 13 2,735 398 
			 1997–98 74 13 2,611 399 
			 1998–99 75 13 2,524 383 
			 1999–2000 77 14 2,534 380 
			 2000–01 81 15 2,546 389 
		
	
	Source:
	annual subsidy returns by local authorities to the Department for Work and Pensions and the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.
	Notes:
	1. Figures are rounded to the nearest £1 million.
	2. The figures for 2000–01 are provisional. All other figures are actual annual expenditure but are subject to change as local authority activity is fully audited.
	3. Figures are consistent with those published in the Chancellor's Budget Report, April 2002.
	4. Greater London consists of the 32 London boroughs and the Corporation of the City of London.

LORD CHANCELLOR

Crown Prosecution Service

Julia Drown: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what plans he has to allow the Crown Prosecution Service to attend hearings of appeals against sentences to represent the victim's interests.

Harriet Harman: Sir Robin Auld in his Review of the Criminal Courts (October 2001) recommended in relation to the work of the Court of Appeal that:
	"The Crown Prosecution Service should consider on a case by case basis whether to appear on the hearing of an appeal against sentence so as to be able to assist the Court, if required, on matters of fact, including the effect on any victim, or of law" (Recommendation 321)
	The Government has accepted that recommendation which will be taken forward by the Lord Chief Justice building on existing arrangements that enable the CPS to be represented at some sentencing appeals in the Court of Appeal. The role of the CPS at such hearings is to represent the state. In doing so it can take account of the interests of individual victims.

Pensions Appeal Tribunal

John Greenway: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department when the Pensions Appeal Tribunal finds that a pension payable to a retired disabled officer was granted on account of medical unfitness attributable to military service from when payments of that pension are payable.

Lewis Moonie: I have been asked to reply.
	When the Pensions Appeal Tribunal (PAT) decides that disablement is attributable to, or aggravated by, service the Secretary of State for Defence assesses the degree of disablement and decides from which date any payment of pension should be paid in accordance with Schedule 3 to the Naval, Military and Air Forces Etc (Disablement and Death) Service Pensions Order 1983. There is a right of appeal against the decision on the level of assessment of disablement and since 9 April 2001 a right of appeal against the decision on the commencement date of the pension.
	If an appeal is successful the pension will normally be paid from the date of the claim or date of the application for review, whichever led to the appeal.

Special Advisers

Andrew Tyrie: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what the (a) dates, (b) location and (c) sources were of attributable (i) articles, interviews or contributions for the media, books or other journals and (ii) speeches or presentations made in the public domain, by departmental special advisers since March 2001; who in his Department authorised the activity; and on what date this activity was recorded with the departmental Head of Information.

Yvette Cooper: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister on 24 July 2002, Official Report, column 1373W.

Criminal Courts Review

Keith Vaz: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if he will make a statement on the Central Council of Magistrates' response to the Criminal Courts Review.

Yvette Cooper: The Central Council of Magistrates' Courts Committees submitted a written response to Sir Robin Auld's Report, which is available on our website. Their views were considered along with the nearly 500 other responses received, many from individual magistrates and Magistrates' Courts Committees. This consideration helped form the Government's conclusions which were set out in the Criminal Justice White Paper "Justice for All", which was published on 17 July 2002.

CAFCASS

Simon Hughes: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how much money is owed within the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service; and (a) by and (b) to whom it is owed.

Rosie Winterton: The Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service's (CAFCASS) Accounts for 2001–02, show £4.3 million as being owed to creditors on 31 March 2002. The three largest amounts owed were to CAFCASS Guardians at £1,211,900, £1,706,700 for accommodation and £248,400 for staff related expenses. During 2001–02, CAFCASS paid 88 per cent. of all invoices within a 30-day period, during 2002–03 this has risen to well above 90 per cent.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Press Office

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many (a) full time equivalents were employed by his press office and (b) secondees were placed in his press office in the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

Mike O'Brien: holding answer 22 July 2002
	(a) The number of full-time officers working in the Foreign and Commonwealth Press Office (News Department) over the last 5 years was:
	
		
			 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 
		
		
			 23 23 20 19 29 
			   (3 slots vacant) (4 slots vacant)  
		
	
	(b) No records are kept of the number of short term secondees for the last five years.

Baroness Amos

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many meetings the Baroness Amos has had with hon. Members since 7 June 2001.

Jack Straw: My noble Friend the Baroness Amos has had 59 meetings with hon. Members since 7 June 2001. This figure includes meetings with Ministers from other Government Departments, but does not include meetings with Peers or FCO Ministers.

Baroness Amos

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many visits abroad the Baroness Amos has made since 7 June 2001.

Jack Straw: My noble Friend the Baroness Amos has made 28 overseas visits since 7 June 2001.

Overseas Territories

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to his answers of 1 March 2002, Official Report, column 1639W, on overseas territories if he will make a further statement on (a) the Order in Council and (b) local legislation in (i) Bermuda, (ii) Gibraltar and (iii) the Cayman Islands.

Mike O'Brien: The Anti-terrorism (Financial and other Measures) (Overseas Territories) Order 2002 was laid before Parliament on 26 July and came into force on 1 August. The text of the Order has been sent to the Territories to which it extends (Anguilla, Falkland Islands, Montserrat, St Helena and Dependencies, Turks and Caicos Islands and the British Virgin Islands) and has been posted on the Stationery Office website. Copies have been sent also to Bermuda, Gibraltar and the Cayman Islands where the text will be used as a model for their own domestic legislation. Legislation is unlikely to be introduced in Bermuda before the House of Assembly rises for the summer. In Gibraltar drafting of local legislation is underway. Draft legislation for the Cayman Islands is being finalised.

Nice Treaty

Ian Davidson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what rules will apply to the Ambassador and staff of the British Embassy in Dublin during the forthcoming Irish referendum on the Nice Treaty; what guidelines will be issued on intervention in Irish public and political affairs (a) in the run up to and (b) during the referendum; and if he will make a statement.

Peter Hain: In accordance with normal practice, and Article 41 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations 1961, the Ambassador and staff of the British Embassy in Dublin will make no intervention in Irish public and political affairs in connection with the forthcoming referendum on the Nice Treaty.

British Council

Mark Lazarowicz: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will provide support to the British Council to enable it to undertake its proposals to develop further its Connecting Futures programme.

Denis MacShane: In his statement to the House on 15 July my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced increases of £5 million, £10 million and £20 million in the grant-in-aid for the British Council over the next three years; an average annual increase of 3.0 per cent. in real terms. This increase, on top of the 3.3 per cent. average annual increases after inflation in the 2000 Spending Review, will have increased the total grant funded activities of the British Council by nearly £50 million since 2000–01.
	The additional funding will enable the Council to press ahead with a number of important initiatives, including its Connecting Futures Programme.

British Council

Mark Lazarowicz: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will provide assistance to enable the British Council to open new regional centres in (a) Kaliningrad, (b) Banya Luka and (c) Sarajevo.

Denis MacShane: The British Council has had an office in Sarajevo since 1994. In its recent Spending Review bid the British Council set out various proposals for increasing its activities, including opening regional centres in Kaliningrad and Banja Luka.
	In his statement to the House on 15 July my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced increases of £5 million, £10 million and £20 million in the grant-in-aid for the British Council over the next three years, an average annual increase of 3.0 per cent. in real terms. This increase, on top of the 3.3 per cent. average annual increases after inflation in the 2000 Spending Review, will have increased the total grant funded activities of the British Council by nearly £50 million since 2000–01.
	The additional funding will enable the Council to press ahead with a number of important initiatives. Decisions about the opening of new offices are expected in the autumn.

Cyprus

Andrew Love: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Tooting (Mr. Cox) of 16 July 2002, Official Report, column 178W, on Cyprus, if he will set out the framework of relevant Security Council resolutions and treaties to be considered in the comprehensive peace negotiation between the two communities in Cyprus; and if he will make a statement.

Peter Hain: UN Security Council Resolution 1250 (1999) sets the framework for the current talks for a comprehensive settlement in Cyprus. It calls upon the two leaders to commit themselves to the following principles:
	— no preconditions;
	— all issues on the table;
	— commitment in good faith to continue to negotiate until a settlement is reached;
	— full consideration of relevant United Nations resolutions and treaties.

Cyprus

Andrew Love: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what factors will be taken into account by the (a) UK and (b) EU in deciding whether Cyprus will accede to membership of the European Union; and if he will make a statement.

Peter Hain: In order to accede to the EU, each candidate country must comply with the EU's accession criteria as set out by the Copenhagen European Council in 1993. In respect of the accession of Cyprus, the UK and EU position remains as set out in the Conclusions reached by the 1999 Helsinki European Council, which stated that:
	"A political settlement will facilitate the accession of Cyprus to the European Union. If no settlement has been reached by the completion of accession negotiations, the Council's decision on accession will be made without the above being a precondition. In this the Council will take account of all relevant factors."

Crime Against International Law

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with (a) the German Government, (b) representatives of the German Government in London and (c) his own representatives in Berlin, concerning the German Act to introduce the Code of Crimes Against International Law of 26 June; what advice he has received on its implications for citizens of the UK; and if he will make a statement.

Peter Hain: This legislation is designed to bring Germany's domestic criminal law into line with its commitments under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Although Germany ratified the Rome Statute on 11 December 2000 it has not until now completed its legislation to implement the Statute. The United Kingdom adopted its own legislation (the ICC Act and ICC Scotland 2001) before ratifying the Statute. The German government has kept British Embassy officials in Berlin informed of its legislative progress. I do not envisage any special problems for British citizens arising from this legislation.

Baku-Ceyhan Pipeline

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what communications he has received in the last 10 months concerning the Baku-Ceyhan pipeline; and if he will make a statement.

Mike O'Brien: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office is in regular contact with the Government of Azerbaijan and the commercial companies involved in the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline project. We fully support this project, in which BP is taking a leading role.
	Two high level visits have been made to Baku this year. The Minister for Energy, my hon. friend the Member for Cunninghame North (Mr. Brian Wilson), attended the Caspian Oil and Gas Show in Azerbaijan in June. In the same month, the Lord Mayor of London led a delegation from the financial services sector to Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan. Both discussed oil and gas issues, including the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline.

Spain/Gibraltar

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what action the Government have taken in the European Court to address border queues between Spain and Gibraltar.

Peter Hain: None. The Commission announced the conclusion of their investigation into the situation at the border on 19 March. A copy of their statement has been placed in the libraries of the House. The Spanish government also confirmed on 19 March that in response to requests made by the UK during the Brussels Process talks a new second channel would be opened. This became operational on 21 March. We continue to believe that dialogue is the best way of overcoming our differences with Spain over Gibraltar.

Terrorism

Jimmy Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions have taken place with European colleagues over intensifying co-operation to neutralise funding for terrorist purposes.

Mike O'Brien: In addition to obligations under UNSCR 1390 to freeze the assets of Al Qa'ida and its associates, EC Regulation 2580/02 obliges member states to freeze the assets of other agreed terrorist groups and individuals. We and EU partners have regular discussions on implementation of this regulation. The Bank of England website (www.bankofengland.co.uk) maintains a full list of all those whose assets are currently frozen in the UK.

Terrorism

Jimmy Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on progress in increasing co-operation between member states of the EU in the war on terrorism since 11 September 2001.

Mike O'Brien: There has been good progress in implementing the counter-terrorism measures agreed by EU Heads of Government and Justice and Home Affairs Ministers in September 2001. In particular, the Council of Ministers has adopted the framework decisions on a European arrest warrant; on terrorism; and on joint investigative teams. Practical and effective co-operation between Europe's intelligence and law-enforcement agencies to combat terrorism has also continued to improve. The Seville European Council in June committed the EU to continue to maintain the closest possible coordination with the United States and other partners in the fight against terrorism, and to contribute further to international efforts against terrorism. Through its political dialogue with third countries, the EU is encouraging others to take the necessary legislative and operational actions to combat terrorism. Where appropriate, the EU is seeking to deliver assistance in counter-terrorist disciplines, through existing programmes.

Anglo-Scottish Ministerial Meetings

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many formal and official inter-ministerial meetings his Department has held with the Scottish Executive since May 1999, broken down by (a) Scottish Executive department, (b) subject and (c) date.

Jack Straw: holding answer 24 July 2002
	Ministers from my Department have frequent meetings with Ministers from the Scottish Executive, both formal and informal, covering a broad range of topics.

India

Ian Davidson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what his latest assessment is of the situation regarding cross-border terrorist incursions into India.

Mike O'Brien: As my right hon. Friend, the Foreign Secretary, made clear during his visit to India and Pakistan on 19–20 July, we all want to see a permanent end to infiltration across the Line of Control. The recent reduction in the level of infiltration, and de-escalatory steps taken by both sides, are welcome developments. We will continue to work with international partners to encourage India and Pakistan to maintain the de-escalatory momentum and return to productive dialogue on all outstanding issues between them, including Kashmir.

Immigration Officers

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many immigration officers and support staff work in the Consulate in New Delhi, Mumbai, Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore when the operations are fully operational.

Mike O'Brien: The authorised establishments in New Delhi, Mumbai, Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore prior to June were:
	Karachi—8 Entry Clearance Officers and 32 support staff.
	Islamabad—32 Entry Clearance Officers and 100 support staff.
	New Delhi—14 Entry Clearance Officers and 40 support staff.
	Mumbai—11 Entry Clearance Officers and 25 support staff.
	Lahore—6 Entry Clearance Officers and 26 support staff.

East Timor

David Atkinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent representations he has made to the Indonesian Government on the death in East Timor in 1999 of Sander Thoenes and on the deaths in East Timor in 1975 of British citizens Malcolm Rennie and Brian Peters, and other newsmen; and if he will make a statement.

Mike O'Brien: We are in close touch with the Dutch Government who have led on the case of the Dutch citizen Sander Thoenes. On 17 July, Indonesian prosecutors said they would seek to reopen the investigation into this case after receiving new evidence from the Dutch authorities. We have raised the Balibo case with the Indonesian authorities at every appropriate opportunity and will continue to do so.

Israel

Ben Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on Israel's holding of the relatives of suspected militants.

Mike O'Brien: We believe that Israel is currently detaining twenty-one relatives of suspected terrorists. If Israel suspects that these people have committed offences, they should be brought to justice. In the absence of such evidence, they should be released. Collective punishments and deportation of protected persons are prohibited under the Fourth Geneva Convention. We strongly urge Israel to refrain from such action.

Sierra Leone

Alan Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what evidence his Department has collated on political influence in prosecution decisions in Sierra Leone.

Denis MacShane: We have collated no specific evidence on the influence of politics in prosecution decisions. But we are aware of the parlous state of the judiciary in Sierra Leone, which has been allowed to deteriorate over the past twenty years or more. We also recognise that the confidence of ordinary Sierra Leoneans in the proper functioning of the judiciary is at a low ebb. We are especially concerned about delays in moving forward a large number of outstanding corruption cases, and have made clear our desire that they be brought to an early conclusion.
	A properly functioning judicial process is an essential element of good governance. We are therefore helping the government of Sierra Leone with judicial reform. Part of our engagement in Sierra Leone has concentrated on law reform, including the refurbishment of court buildings in both Freetown and the provinces that were damaged or destroyed during the civil war.

Sierra Leone

Alan Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions his Department has had with Sierra Leone's President on (a) broadening his Government, (b) defusing ethnic tensions in Sierra Leone and (c) speeding up reforms of the security structures in Sierra Leone; and if he will make a statement.

Denis MacShane: We maintain a regular dialogue with President Kabbah and senior members of his government on a wide range of international issues and matters relating to our bilateral engagement in the country. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for International Development and my noble Friend Baroness Amos met with President Kabbah on 17 June. A major part of our bilateral relationship involves reform of the security sector. Since May 2000, we have made, and continue to make, considerable progress in the development of a new army under democratic control, and restructuring the police. But there is still much work to be done.
	The end of the conflict in Sierra Leone, brought about by the sustained engagement of the United Nations, the UK and regional leaders, has opened up a new and promising chapter in Sierra Leone's road to democracy. It is the prerogative of the President to nominate members of his government. We believe that politicians both in government and in opposition, and from all ethnic backgrounds, have a vital role to play in helping to consolidate the peace and move the country forward, and we have made clear our strong commitment to helping Sierra Leone in its post conflict recovery.

Bermuda

Alan Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what his Department's policy is with regard to the use of opinion polls conducted in Bermuda on the proposed constitutional changes as evidence of Bermudan opinion.

Mike O'Brien: Our policy is to encourage the widest possible public consultation throughout the constitutional review process. Reliable and published opinion polls can play a part in that.

Bermuda

Alan Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what criteria he proposes to use to determine whether there is consensus in Bermuda on the proposed changes to the electoral system.

Mike O'Brien: We propose to take into account the report of the Constituency Boundaries Commission, which itself invited the views of the public, the subsequent debate in the Bermuda House of Assembly, and any other available evidence of public opinion in Bermuda.

Bermuda

Alan Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when his Department will make public the UK Civil Service College review of the Bermudan Civil Service.

Mike O'Brien: The Review of the Bermuda Public Service was commissioned by the Government of Bermuda. It is for them to decide when and if the report should be published.

Bermuda

Alan Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if it his Department's policy to convene a constitutional conference to discuss proposed changes to Bermuda's constitution; and if he will make a statement.

Mike O'Brien: A Constitutional Conference has neither been ruled in nor out at this stage. We do not propose to reach a judgement on the case for a further process until we have received the report of the Constituency Boundaries Commission and there has been an opportunity for the House of Assembly in Bermuda to discuss the report.

Bermuda

Alan Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations the Bermudan Government have made to his Department explaining why it wishes to reduce the size of the House of Assembly; and if he will make a statement.

Mike O'Brien: The current Government of Bermuda have made it clear that they favour a move from dual to single-seat constituencies. This commitment was part of their 1998 election manifesto. The Boundaries Commission are to produce a report, recommending the number and boundaries of constituencies within a margin no fewer than 20 and no greater than 40. The House of Assembly, which at present consists of 40 members, will then debate the report.

Zimbabwe

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what action is being taken to ensure that financial markets beyond those of the EU and Switzerland are off-limits to those members of the ZANU-PF whose assets are frozen.

Denis MacShane: Article 6 of the EU Common Position of 18 February, which imposed an assets freeze on senior members of the Mugabe regime, made clear that the EU "shall encourage third States to adopt restrictive measures similar to those contained in this Common Position".
	The EU Accession States, New Zealand, Norway and Switzerland have followed the EU's lead. The Government has made private representations to a number of countries to adopt similar measures. These efforts are on-going.

Burundi

Andrew Love: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent assessment he has made of the human rights situation in Burundi; and if he will make a statement.

Denis MacShane: The conflict in Burundi has led to abuses of human rights and humanitarian standards by all sides. We have repeatedly called on all parties to respect international humanitarian law and continue to register our concerns over human rights in Burundi in bilateral political discussions. We have also given material support to the Ministry for Human Rights in Burundi and the UN Human Rights Field Office in Burundi.

SADC

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the SADC Parliamentary Forum's electoral norms and standards; and what steps the Government are taking to promote them in Africa.

Denis MacShane: Through our High Commission in Windhoek we are in contact with the Secretary General of the SADC Parliamentary Forum. We welcome the adoption of the Electoral Norms and Standards by the Parliamentary Forum.
	We welcome, too, the African Union's declaration on the principles governing democratic elections in Africa issued in Durban earlier this month.
	We provide support to countries in Africa that are holding elections to assist them in meeting internationally recognised standards.

BAe Systems

John Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what investigations have been carried out by UK agencies into the bribery allegations in the contract between BAe Systems and the Government of Qatar.

Harriet Harman: holding answer 24 July 2002
	I have been asked to reply. 
	At the request of the Attorney General of Jersey, the Director of the Serious Fraud Office exercised her powers under section 2 of the Criminal Justice Act 1987 to obtain information in connection with criminal investigations that he was conducting concerning the affairs of the Yaheeb Trusts and the Havana Trust and their associated entities in Jersey. No other UK agencies conducted investigations. The Attorney General's criminal investigations are now concluded.

TRANSPORT

Rail Safety

Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the answer of 10 June, Official Report, columns 781–782W, on rail safety, if he will list those occasions on which an incident involved trains or road vehicles carrying (a) hazardous substances and (b) nuclear flasks; and if he will make a statement.

John Spellar: The number of road accidents involving vehicles carrying hazardous substances notified to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 since 1997 are provided in the table below:
	
		
			  1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01(prov) 
		
		
			 Overturning or serious damage to a tank while conveying by road prescribed dangerous substances, or the uncontrolled release or fire involving the substance being conveyed 49 28 21 26 
			 Uncontrolled release or escape of a dangerous substance, or a fire involving the dangerous substance, when being conveyed by road in a vehicle 40 24 44 74 
		
	
	The number of rail accidents involving trains carrying hazardous substances registered by HSE's HM Railway Inspectorate since 1997 are in the table below:
	
		
			  1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 (prov) 
		
		
			 Rail accidents involving trains transporting dangerous goods 15 11 4 4 16 
		
	
	Information on accidents and incidents involving the transport of radioactive material in the UK is published annually and placed in the Libraries of the House. The latest report, "Radiological Consequences resulting from Accidents and Incidents involving the Transport of Radioactive Materials in the UK—2000 Review, National Radiological Protection Board (NRPB)-M120", was published in October 2001. Data is still being collated for the 2001 report and is not yet available.

"Transport 2010"

Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if the planned review of "Transport 2010" will be accompanied by a published environmental appraisal.

David Jamieson: We plan to publish a progress report on the 10 Year Plan in the autumn. This will include details of progress towards environmental objectives.

Underground

Theresa May: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the backlog of (a) maintenance and (b) renewal work on the London Underground was for each of the last three years.

David Jamieson: holding answer 8 July 2002
	This is a matter for London Underground.

Underground

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what powers (a) he and (b) the Mayor of London (i) have and (ii) will have to place the Tube Infracos into administration; under what legislation these powers are in place; and if he will make a statement.

David Jamieson: Neither the Secretary of State nor the Mayor have, or will have, any powers to place the infrastructure companies into administration. Decisions on such matters are, and will remain, for the Courts. Under the Insolvency Act 1986 (as modified by the Greater London Authority Act 1999), the Courts may consider and act upon a petition from any person (including the Secretary of State and the Mayor) for administration or winding-up of a company.
	Additionally, sections 220–224 of the Greater London Authority Act 1999 specify the circumstances under which the Courts could make a PPP administration order. Such an order would bring into effect a special administration regime designed to allow for the continued operation of a safe and effective passenger service. The Secretary of State has the power to make the Rules of the special administration regime.

Air Traffic Centre

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will place a copy of the report by the Health and Safety Executive on IT systems in operation at Swanwick and West Drayton in the Library.

David Jamieson: No. There are statutory restrictions on the disclosure of information obtained by HSE in pursuance of its powers which apply to the HSE report on the IT System at Swanwick. National Air Traffic Services are working with HSE, the Civil Aviation Authority and the trade unions to resolve any issues associated with the new working environment at Swanwick.
	There is no corresponding HSE report on the IT System at West Drayton air traffic control centre.

Road Deaths

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will analyse the results from Holland and other countries where traffic lights have been removed in an attempt to reduce road deaths; and if he will make a statement.

David Jamieson: The Department is always interested in ways of making roads safer for all, especially for vulnerable road users, and in reducing unnecessary street furniture. My officials will be looking at the work in The Netherlands and elsewhere, and at the context in which it is being done, to see what lessons may be transferable to this country.

Traffic lights

Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will take powers to prevent local authorities and elected mayors from altering the timing on traffic lights other than for the purpose of improving traffic flows commensurate with safety.

John Spellar: The timing of traffic signals depends on many factors, including the layout of junctions, the movements and types of vehicles to be accommodated at the junction and the proximity of junctions to each other, as well as the numbers of vehicles and pedestrians. We look to local authorities and elected mayors to provide for the safe and efficient passage of all road users and to ensure the smooth flow of traffic.

ENVIRONMENT FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

BSE

Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what legal action she will take in relation to the incident in Wales last November whereby meat from the offspring of a cow with BSE entered the human food chain.

Elliot Morley: The case has been investigated and a warning letter has been sent to the farmers concerned. Offspring cull procedures have been tightened up.

Aggregates Levy

Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what measures she plans to take to ensure that the Sustainability Fund is used to deliver environmental improvements in localities where the extractive activities incurring the aggregates levy occur.

Michael Meacher: The Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund will be distributed through the Countryside Agency, English Heritage, English Nature, WRAP, DTI's Construction Innovation and Research Management Programme, ODPM's Planning Research and Clean Up programmes and DfT's Freight Facilities Grant.
	Of the total £58.6 million available in England over the next two years, £29.5 million has been allocated to projects designed to reduce the local effects of aggregates extraction, and £1.6 million to a local authority pilot project run by Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Somerset County Councils.

Glazebury-on-Wye Bridge

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when the hon. Member for Leominster will receive a response to his letter of 29 October 2001 concerning the new flood-warning monitor at Glazebury-on-Wye bridge.

Elliot Morley: A reply was sent to the hon. Member on 13 February.

Correspondence

Derek Wyatt: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when her Department will answer the letter of Mr. J. C. Dixon, received on 8 November 2001, a constituent.

Elliot Morley: The Department has no record of Mr. Dixon's letter.

Correspondence

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when he expects to reply to the letter of 29 October 2001 from the hon. Member for Leominster on behalf of a constituent, Mr. M. J. Cox.

Elliot Morley: A reply was sent to the hon. Member on 13 August.

Correspondence

Mark Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when she will reply to the letter from the hon. Member for Fareham, dated 18 January, concerning his constituent Mr. Broadbridge.

Elliot Morley: holding answer 26 March 2002
	A reply was sent to the hon. Member on 30 July.

Correspondence

James Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  when she intends to write to the hon. Member for Hertsmere regarding the case of Mr. T Haworth of Radlett, as referred to in the letter from the then Minister of State in her letter of December 2000, ref. 148710;
	(2)  when she plans to answer the question tabled on 10 May from the hon. Member for Hertsmere, ref 56555;
	(3)  when she plans to reply to the question tabled on 10 May by the hon. Member for Hertsmere regarding the case of Mr. T. Haworth of Radlett, ref 56555.

Elliot Morley: My noble Friend Lord Whitty wrote to the hon. Member on 31 July with an undertaking that officials would look into Mr. Haworth's case urgently.

Correspondence

Julian Brazier: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when she will answer the letter from the hon. Member for Canterbury dated 21 December 2001, ref radiation, emissions and pollution.

Michael Meacher: I responded to the hon. Member's letter on 10 September.

Correspondence

Richard Spring: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  when she will reply to Mr. Bennett and Mrs. Wilcockson, constituents, regarding the Home Energy Efficiency Scheme;
	(2)  when she will reply to correspondence from the hon. Member for West Suffolk of October 2001 in respect of his constituents, Mr. Bennett and Mrs. Wilcockson, regarding the home energy efficiency scheme.

Elliot Morley: holding answer 18 July 2002
	A reply was sent to the hon. Member on 30 July.

Correspondence

Peter Atkinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when she will reply to the letters of the hon. Member for Hexham of 19 March, ref. 167263, and 21 February, ref. 167311, in respect of compensation claims for foot and mouth disease.

Elliot Morley: Responses were sent to the hon. Member on 14 and 15 August.

Correspondence

Peter Atkinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when she will respond to the letter of the hon. Member for Hexham of 7 March, ref. 167576.

Elliot Morley: holding answer 2 July 2002
	A response was sent to the hon. Member on 14 August.

Correspondence

Peter Atkinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when she will respond to the letter of the hon. Member for Hexham of 3 December 2001, ref. 160528.

Elliot Morley: holding answer 2 July 2002
	A response was sent to the hon. Member on 14 August.

Correspondence

Alan Beith: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when she will reply to the correspondence from the right hon. Member for Berwick-upon-Tweed dated 15 February and 18 April concerning an outbreak of scab in Northumberland.

Elliot Morley: holding answer 3 July 2002
	A reply was sent to the right hon. Member on 30 July.

Correspondence

Alex Salmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when he will respond to the letter from the hon. Member for Banff and Buchan of 17 May regarding the future of farming.

Elliot Morley: A reply was sent to the hon. Member on 26 July.

Correspondence

Alex Salmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when he will respond to the letters from the hon. Member for Banff and Buchan of 31 January, 10 April and 5 June regarding the corporate sector's role in delivering sustainable development.

Elliot Morley: The hon. Member's letters have been transferred to the Department of Trade and Industry who have responsibility for the particular issues raised.

Correspondence

Patrick McLoughlin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when she will respond to the letters of the hon. Member for West Derbyshire of 25 February, 9 April and 23 May regarding the future of farming in the United Kingdom.

Elliot Morley: A reply was sent to the hon. Member on 24 July.

Correspondence

Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when she will reply to the letter to her dated 18 June from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Mrs. M. Wood.

Elliot Morley: A reply was sent to my right hon. Friend on 26 July.

Correspondence

Anthony Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when she will reply to the letter from the hon. Member for Totnes of 10 June about GM seeds.

Elliot Morley: holding answer 23 July 2002
	A response was sent to the hon. Member on 12 August.

Correspondence

Anthony Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when she will reply to the letter from the hon. Member for Totnes of 22 May concerning EU regulations on GM foods.

Elliot Morley: holding answer 23 July 2002
	A reply was sent to the hon. Member on 29 August.

Agriculture Council

Jimmy Hood: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what was the outcome of the Agriculture Council held in Brussels on 18 and 19 March; what the Government's stance was and how it voted on each issue discussed; and if she will make a statement.

Margaret Beckett: I represented the United Kingdom at the meeting of the Agriculture Council in Brussels on 18 March.
	The Council agreed by qualified majority the aid arrangements to apply to tobacco production for the years 2002–04. A welcome small reduction in, and some re-orientation of, support was agreed, but the Council as a whole was unwilling to endorse a commitment to the eventual phasing out of support to this sector. The UK made clear its continued strong opposition to supporting tobacco production and abstained in the vote.
	The Council unanimously agreed proposals for aid in the nut sector. I joined several other member states in noting that the measures concerned were intended to be time-limited and that we would be unwilling to endorse any extension of them.
	The Council took stock of the EU Enlargement negotiations on agriculture; and on Tuesday EU Ministers met the agriculture Ministers of the applicant countries to hear their appreciation of key issues.
	Spain tabled a memorandum on the possible use of insurance as a risk management tool in agriculture and reported frost damage to some of its olive groves; Germany tabled a note on the Mid Term Review of Agenda 2000 and raised concerns about the monitoring of residues in food products imported from third countries; and France drew attention to pressures on the EU cereals markets.

GM Foods

Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if the Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment was in possession of relevant data when assessing T25 maize under the genetically modified foods approval procedure; and if she will make a statement.

Michael Meacher: holding answer 7 May 2002
	The application to market T25 maize was submitted to the French competent authority under Directive 90/220/EEC in 1995. Having assessed the application and being content that all relevant data was available, the French competent authority forwarded the application to other Member States via the Commission with a favourable opinion. ACRE considered the dossier on T25 maize in June 1996 and gave their advice. Subsequently, and following a favourable opinion from the European Commission Scientific Committee on Plants, the application was approved and consent issued by the French on behalf of the EU in August 1998.
	In the light of the seed listing hearing on Chardon LL, and following an open meeting of ACRE that considered issues raised during the hearing, ACRE are in the process of drafting further advice concerning T25 maize. This advice will be completed and published during the summer.

Warm Front Initiative

Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  what assessment she has made of the number of people experiencing delays when seeking improvements to their homes under the Warm Front initiative.
	(2)  what assessment she has made of the progress of the Department's Warm Front initiative; and if she will make a statement.

Michael Meacher: The Home Energy Efficiency Scheme for England is marketed as the Warm Front Team. To date Warm Front has assisted over 350,000 households and spent over £180 million on installing measures.
	The two Scheme Managers have target times for completion work. These are set at 40 days for insulation measures, and 120 days for heating measures. The table below shows the number of households receiving either a central heating system or insulation measures and the time taken from survey to completion of work:
	Waiting times between 1 June 2000 and 31 March 2002
	
		Central heating
		
			 Total number of households in sample 66,600 
		
		
			 Waiting time less than 120 days 33,100 
			 Waiting time greater than 120 days 33,500 
		
	
	
		Insulation
		
			 Total number of households in sample 311,200 
		
		
			 Waiting time less than 40 days 91,900 
			 Waiting time greater than 40 days 219,300 
		
	
	There is usually a period of 1–8 weeks between the date of actual installation and receipt of the invoice from installers.
	The Scheme Managers provide monthly performance reports covering delivery against targets, customer care and heating capacity. There have been delays in the installation of measures under the scheme, but my Department is working closely with the Scheme Managers to address these problems.
	Some applicants to the scheme have experienced delays due to the national shortage of gas heating engineers. To help address this problem my Department has funded training courses to provide additional qualified engineers to work under the scheme.
	In addition, over 290,000 households receive assistance in 2001–02 against an original target of 228,000. This will also have impacted upon timelines, although it is not possible to quantify the affect at this time.
	We will carry out a review of Warm Front during this financial year to look at how effective its delivery has been, the issues faced, solutions found, examples of best practice and future priorities.

Public Consultation

Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will list the public consultations undertaken by her Department since June 2001, stating in each case the (a) number of respondents and (b) percentage of those specifically consulted who responded.

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will list the public consultations undertaken by her Department since 8 June 2001, indicating the (a) length and (b) number of responses received in each case.

Elliot Morley: holding answer 10 June 2002
	Information on public consultation processes undertaken by DEFRA is held in the public domain and can be obtained from the DEFRA website at www.defra.gov.UK. in the section titled "Consultation Exercises". Contact details regarding each consultation are provided. Responses to public consultations where the respondents have not asked for anonymity are also listed on this website page.
	Further analysis of the responses to these processes could only be provided at a disproportionate cost.

Advertising Campaigns

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much was spent on press and advertising campaigns in 2001–02; and what the planned expenditure is for 2002–03.

Elliot Morley: I refer the honourable member to my earlier replies given to him on 26 March, Official Report, columns 828–89W, and to the hon. Member for Banff and Buchan (Mr. Alex Salmond) on 18 July, Official Report, column 474W.
	The centralised budget allocation for DEFRA's Communications Directorate publicity group for the financial year 2002–03 is £4.1million.
	The process of allocating funds within this budget for expenditure on media advertising and campaigns is structured to be flexible and responsive to changing priorities. Each project is evaluated, and a budget estimated and costed, on a case by case basis, except for those instances when UK statutes or EU directives require that press and advertising campaigns should be undertaken.

Sheep

David Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs which breeds of sheep are defined by her Department as rare breeds.

Margaret Beckett: holding answer 13 June 2002
	DEFRA currently uses the Rare Breeds Survival Trust Priority List for rare breeds of sheep, as defined by them under seven distinct categories. A copy of this list has been placed in the Library of the House. It is also updated and published quarterly in "The Ark", the journal of the Rare Breeds Survival Trust.

BSE in Sheep

David Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on the Government's response to the recommendations of the Food Standards Agency's report on BSE and Sheep, May 2002 concerning the development of a rapid diagnostic test for BSE in sheep.

Margaret Beckett: The report by the Food Standards Agency's Core Stakeholder Group is fully consistent with existing Government policy in this respect. The development of methods and tests that can distinguish between scrapie and sheep is a key focus for research.
	Indeed, DEFRA has long recognised the need for a rapid test which can reliably distinguish a "BSE-like" strain of TSE agent from the strains known to represent traditional scrapie. For example, there are two different technologies being studied at the Veterinary Laboratories Agency which show some promise in this regard.
	A modified version of the Western Blot is now being used (in addition to standard Histopathology and Immunohistochemistry) for statutory testing of all clinical scrapie suspects in GB and for retrospective testing of archived case material. So far, there have been no results which would suggest a "BSE-like" strain.
	Work on differential testing is not limited to the UK. DEFRA also monitors and collaborates on research developments throughout the world. The European Commission's Scientific Steering Committee recently published a strategy to apply a common protocol for testing scrapie cases for BSE across Europe.

Foot and Mouth

Tim Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  what information and instructions EU member state Governments received from the European Union in respect of the outbreak of foot and mouth in KwaZulu-Natal last year;
	(2)  what response the Government made to information and instructions received from the European Union in respect of the outbreak of foot and mouth in KwaZulu-Natal last year.

Margaret Beckett: holding answer 25 June 2001
	I regret that this reply has been overlooked. The Standing Veterinary Committee (SVC) first received a report from the European Commission of an unconfirmed foot and mouth outbreak in KwaZulu-Natal on 19–20 September 2000. On 3–4 October 2000 the Commission informed the SVC of two confirmed outbreaks and tabled background information of the action taken by the South African authorities. On 18 October 2000 the SVC was informed of one further outbreak and that a Commission inspection visit to South Africa was expected to take place on 23 October 2000.
	On 7–8 November 2000 the European Commission informed the SVC of the outcome of the inspection and indicated that safeguard measures may be necessary. On 17 November 2000 the Commission adopted Decision 2000/739/EC formally stopping imports of fresh meat into the Community from 16 districts in the province of KwaZulu-Natal. On 5 December 2000 the Commission informed the SVC of an outbreak in Swaziland linked to the South African outbreaks. They confirmed that no export certificates could be signed by either country. At the SVC on 20 December 2000 the Commission reported there had been no change in the situation.
	As there had been no significant improvement in the situation in South Africa, the Government took a decision to take additional safeguard measures by formally stop imports of meat of FMD susceptible species.
	On 5 January 2001 the Government took measures under the Products of Animal Origin (Import and Export) Regulations 1996, prohibiting fresh meat imports from all of South Africa. A note explaining the situation was sent to trade interests on 8 January 2001, as was a letter to all UK Border Inspection Posts at ports and airports. Scotland and Northern Ireland took similar action shortly afterwards.

Foot and Mouth

Tim Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  when the European Union converted its temporary suspension on South African meat imports into a formal import ban following the outbreak of foot and mouth in KwaZulu-Natal; and how the terms of the ban differed from those of the suspension;
	(2)  for what period and on which products and geographical areas the European Union imposed a temporary suspension of South African livestock imports following the outbreak of foot and mouth in KwaZulu-Natal last year.

Margaret Beckett: holding answer 25 June 2001
	I regret that this reply has been overlooked. Technically there is no difference between a suspension and a ban.
	In October 2000 the European Commission advised the Standing Veterinary Committee (SVC) that with effect from 21 September 2000, the South African authorities had stopped the issue of export certificates for fresh meat from 16 districts of the province of KwaZulu-Natal following an outbreak of foot and mouth disease. On 17 November 2000, the Commission adopted a Decision to formally stop the importation of fresh meat of foot and mouth disease susceptible species from the same 16 districts by amending the relevant Community legislation. The districts were as follows: Camperdown, Pietermaritzburg, Lions River, New Hanover, Umvoti, Kranskop, Mapumulo, Ndwedwe, Lower Tugela, Inanda, Pinetown, Durban, (including the metropolitan area of Durban), Chatsworth, Umzali, Umbumbulu and Richmond.
	In August 2001, following sufficient guarantees from the South African authorities with regard to the control measures taken, some restrictions were lifted. Community restrictions remain in place in respect of the following areas:
	the part of the foot-and-mouth disease control area situated in the veterinary regions of Mpumalanga and Northern provinces, in the district of Ingwavuma of the veterinary region of Natal and in the border area with Botswana east of longitude 28°, and the district of Camperdown, in the province of KwaZula-Natal.

Foot and Mouth

Tim Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what information the letters sent by MAFF to border inspection posts and traders after 5 January included concerning (a) foot and mouth in KwaZulu-Natal last year and (b) outbreaks in other South African provinces.

Margaret Beckett: holding answer 25 June 2001
	I regret that this reply has been overlooked. On 8 January 2001, traders and Border Inspection Posts (BIPs) were advised that the importation into England and Wales of fresh meat of FMD susceptible species from South Africa was prohibited unless it was produced before 15 September 2000. They were also advised that certain other products of animal origin derived from FMD susceptible species including meat products, blood and blood products, milk products and colostrum and bones, horns, hooves and products thereof may not be able to meet appropriate EU or GB certification requirements.
	On 14 June 2001 a Declaration was issued in accordance with Regulation 35 of the Products of Animal Origin (Import and Export) Regulations 1996 permitting, in accordance with Community legislation, the importation into England and Wales of fresh meat of FMD susceptible species from those areas in South Africa where FMD is not present. Copies of the relevant letter to the trade and the Declaration are available on our website:
	http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/int-trde/default.htm
	On 22 June a further Declaration and letters to traders and BIPS were issued in respect of the importation from South Africa of game meat. The letters also clarified the position with regard to imports of sheep meat as a result of an error in Community legislation.

Fishing

Jonathan Sayeed: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what her policy is on the introduction of a system of individual transferable quotas across the EU.

Elliot Morley: Under the current EU rules the Total Allowable Catch for each fish stock is apportioned between Member States according to the principle of "relative stability". It is then for individual Member States to decide how the quota should be allocated to their fishing industries. We believe that this arrangement offers significant advantages in terms of flexibility and meeting the different needs of the fishing industries in different Member States. While we would, of course, consider carefully any proposal for a system of individual transferable quotas across the EU, it is not clear that such a system would yield greater benefits than the current arrangements.

Litter

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment (a) has been and (b) is planned (i) by and (ii) for her Department on the problem of litter for (A) local authority roads, (B) trunk roads and motorways, (C) railway lines and (D) canals and other waterways; and if she will make a statement.

Michael Meacher: The Environment Protection Act 1990: Code of Practice on Litter and Refuse defines standards of cleanliness for various locations and specifies periods of time within which any particular area should be returned to the appropriate standard, should it fall to a lower standard.
	The Highways Agency is responsible for litter clearance on motorways and a few all-purpose trunk roads transferred under section 86(11) of the Act. All other roads are the responsibility of the local Districts and Borough Councils in respect of litter and refuse.
	The managing agents and contractors employed by Highways Agency carry out daily safety patrols and weekly safety inspections on the motorways during which they also report on instances of litter accumulation. The contractor then removes litter to achieve the overall cleanliness standards set out in the Code.
	The Highways Agency aims to secure continuous improvement in its routine maintenance through a move towards performance related procurement for all new contracts. One of the performance criteria of these new contracts is an environmental amenity index that examines the overall appearance of the road taking account of litter and debris, grass cutting, weed growth, cleanliness and visibility of signs.
	Under the Pathfinder Programme, which I launched last year to address, amongst other local environment quality issues, ways of tackling litter in canals and other waterways, a methodology is being developed for DEFRA which allow the problem to be assessed.
	It is planned that this methodology will be developed into a code of best practice for use on canals and other waterways.
	I understand that Railtrack have in hand a national programme to ensure that the lineside is clear from surplus engineering material and debris by October 2002; and that systems are in place by the following month to prevent the future build-up of such material.

Radioactive Waste

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  what representations she has received regarding the consultation on radioactive waste management; and if she will make a statement;
	(2)  what action she plans in relation to radioactive waste management; and if she will make a statement;
	(3)  what steps she (a) has taken and (b) plans to take to change (i) guidance and (ii) legislation relating to radioactive waste management; and if she will make a statement;
	(4)  what public consultation (a) has taken place and (b) is planned in relation to radioactive waste management; and if she will make a statement.

Michael Meacher: I refer the hon. Member to the letter of 29 July from my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State. She wrote to all Members with the results of the consultation on radioactive waste management, and announced the next steps of the policy making process.
	The consultation on Managing radioactive waste safely, published by the UK Government and the devolved administrations, ran from 12 September 2001 to 12 March 2002 and 330 responses were received. A summary of the responses has been placed in the Library of the House, and those of the devolved administrations. The summary lists other events during the consultation period, including recommendations from two Parliamentary Select Committees and a number of research reports. Copies of individual responses are available in my Department's Library, and in those of the relevant Departments in the devolved administrations.
	In her letter, my right hon. Friend said that the Government and the devolved administrations had considered these responses and recommendations and decided the next steps in the policy process. In particular, we propose to press ahead with a review of waste management options. The review will seek the views of interested stakeholders, the public and government departments. We will appoint an independent body to oversee the review process which will make recommendations on the option, or combination of options, for managing radioactive waste which would achieve long-term protection for people and the environment. We will review all options and revise the timetable to a four stage process rather than five as proposed in the original consultation.
	The review process must engage with stakeholders and the public. The review will therefore start by setting the framework for debate by establishing broad agreement on the wastes to be considered, the range of management options for each of them, and the criteria against which these options should be assessed. We want to promote a dynamic and extensive process of public engagement. This approach, coupled with regular reports to our Parliaments and Assemblies, will reach far more people and encourage active involvement in decision making, rather than occasional opportunities to react to consultation papers.
	The waste from our existing nuclear facilities will arise over the next century or so. So we intend, in assessing management options, to include not only materials currently classified as waste but also to consider the consequences of providing for other materials which may have to be managed as waste during the period, such as some separated plutonium, and uranium, as well as certain quantities of spent nuclear fuel.
	We propose that the new body will be in place by the end of the year. Over the summer and autumn, we shall publish more detailed proposals. These will include details of the new body and its terms of reference. They will also address pressing issues such as arrangements for managing waste safely in the short-term and an announcement on waste substitution. We shall report progress on the other issues covered in the consultation, including decommissioning nuclear sites, the powers of the Environment Agencies, managing spent sealed sources of radioactivity, and waste classification.
	In the meantime we are not planning any changes to legislation or guidance on this issue.

GMOs

Julia Drown: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when the Biotech Unit will update its public register on the list of trial sites where GMOs may be released to include the list of sites where winter oil seed rape was planted last autumn for research and development.

Michael Meacher: Aventis, the consent holder, notified the Joint Regulatory Authority (Biotech Unit) of the proposed locations of trial sites for planting of winter oil seed rape last autumn on 26, 27 and 31 July 2001. In all cases the location of trial sites was added to the Public Register within 2 working days.

GMOs

Robert Key: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether (a) scientific assessments, (b) peer reviews and (c) field scale evaluations outside the formal regulatory process will be a pre-requisite for investment in new start-up companies carrying out research and development in agricultural biotechnology.

Patricia Hewitt: I have been asked to reply.
	Scientific assessment, peer review and regulatory requirements are all important factors in the normal due diligence exercise carried out by any investor in new high technology ventures.

GM Crops

Colin Breed: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when the scientific steering committee will next meet to decide locations for the farm scale evaluations of genetically modified crops.

Michael Meacher: holding answer 2 July 2002
	The Scientific Steering Committee considered the proposed locations of the next round of farm-scale evaluations, autumn-sown oil seed rape, by correspondence. The SSC's formal advice has been published on their web-site as previously they deliberated at length the criteria for selection during several early meetings. By the time of this year's selection, however, the process has become efficient enough to be confidently agreed by correspondence without the need for everyone to travel to a meeting.

GM Crops

Colin Breed: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what proportion of GM crops authorised for commercial use in the United States her Department has DNA samples of; and if she will make a statement.

Michael Meacher: holding answer 19 July 2002
	The Department does not hold samples of GM crops authorised for commercial use in the in the United States. GM crops are only permitted to be imported into EU countries if they also have consent under EU directive 90/220/EEC on the deliberate release of genetically modified organisms to the the environment. Importers must ensure that grain and seed imports have the necessary authorisation. DEFRA's GM inspectorate at the Central Scientific Laboratory (CSL) carry out audits to check compliance. CSL has the capability to perform tests to check for unauthorised GM presence as necessary. The tests look for non-specific DNA sequences that are characteristic of the genetic modification process.

Equal Treatment

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she has established a baseline for policy appraisal against which to measure progress on equal treatment; and what progress has been achieved.

Elliot Morley: holding answer 4 July 2002
	The Government is committed to making sure that policies are inclusive and take full account of the needs and experiences of those affected by them.
	Guidance on building this approach into all policy development and implementation was issued to all Divisions which now make up DEFRA. Whilst no baseline has been established since the creation of DEFRA, current consultation arrangements aim to ensure that there is no differential impact on different groups of the population such as men or women, ethnic minorities or those from particular age groups.
	In addition, the Department's draft Equality Scheme required by the Race Relations (Amendment) Act, sets out the proposed actions in respect of its duties to promote equality between different racial groups.
	Progress has been made in embedding awareness of the need to take account of diversity and equality not only in employment but also in delivering policies. However, there is more to be done and we are currently considering further ways to ensure that our procedures reflect these aims.

Women's Organisations

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will list the women's organisations which have been consulted on proposed legislation by her Department since its creation; and whether their responses have been published.

Elliot Morley: holding answer 4 July 2002
	DEFRA guidance on consultations, and that previously available in the Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries and Food, stresses the importance of including in consultation exercises all relevant interest groups, including consumer and general public interest groups. Included in the list of relevant bodies in the guidance are the Women's National Commission, the Co-operative Women's Guild, the National Federation of Women's Institutes, the National Housewives Association and the Townswomen's Guilds. Other organisations are added to individual consultation exercises according to the subject matter, however no central register of all bodies consulted in a particular period is kept.
	Individual responses are not generally published but can be obtained from the DEFRA library on request, for which an administrative charge is made to cover photocopying and postage.

Departmental Data

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what new data series, separated by (a) gender, (b) race, (c) disability and (d) age have been commissioned by her Department since it was created.

Elliot Morley: holding answer 4 July 2002
	The June Agricultural Census collects data on employment in agriculture and horticulture broken down by gender, and the Department also runs a survey which collects information on the earnings of these workers by gender. However, no new questions were introduced with the creation of DEFRA. In 2003 a labour survey will be conducted as part of the EC farm structure surveys. This will ask questions broken down by age and gender.
	DEFRA's draft Equality Scheme, required under the Race Relations (Amendment) Act, sets out the actions required to meet the duty and over time it is possible that this will lead to the commissioning of new data series on ethnicity if this is identified as being necessary.
	Internally, data is collected on gender, disability, age and race. Personnel procedures which may have an impact on applicants and staff are monitored, broken down by gender race and disability and sometimes also by age. A new monitoring programme is being finalised which will take account of the requirements of the Race Relations (Amendment) Act and, as far as possible, forthcoming legislation on sexual orientation, religion and age.

Gender Impact Assessments

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will list the subjects of the gender impact assessments drawn up by her Department since its creation, indicating in each case whether the outcome has been (a) put out to consultation and (b) published.

Elliot Morley: holding answer 4 July 2002
	Guidance on ensuring that polices and procedures are inclusive and take full account of the needs and experiences of those affected by them has been issued to all Divisions which now make up DEFRA.
	The guidance requires, among other things, the preparation of an impact analysis during policy development in cases where there is a possibility of differential impact on different groups such as men and women. Whilst no formal impact assessments have been drawn up since the creation of DEFRA, current consultation arrangements ensure that a good range of organisations, including those representing women, have been contacted for their views on a wide range of issues proposals.

Swill-Feeding

David Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the risk to animal health from the import of pig meat and other products from countries where the animals have been fed swill.

Margaret Beckett: The risk of introduction of serious pig diseases is addressed by the European Community rules governing the import of pig meat and other products. These are designed to ensure that animals carrying disease, however it may have been transmitted, cannot be slaughtered and sent for export to member states.

Committee Mandates

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when the EU Committee for the Adaptation to Technical and Scientific Progress and Implementation of the Directive on the Deliberate Release into the Environment of Genetically Modified Organisms is next due to meet; whether representatives of the Scottish Executive (a) have been and (b) are members of it; and if she will make a statement.

Michael Meacher: The European Commission has not set a date for the next meeting of the regulatory committee established under Directive 2001–2018/EC on the deliberate release into the environment of genetically modified organisms.
	The committee comprises representatives from member states, and the UK is usually represented by an official from this department. DEFRA is the UK lead department for international relations on these matters. The devolved administrations are fully involved in the preparation for regulatory committee discussions, and in any relevant follow-up work arising from them.

Committee Mandates

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when the EU Committee for the adaptation to technical progress of the Directive on procedures for the surveillance and monitoring of environments concerned by waste from the titanium dioxide industry is next due to meet; whether representatives of the Scottish Executive (a) have been and (b) are members of it; and if she will make a statement.

Michael Meacher: The role of the Committee, which is set out in Article 10 of the Council Directive 82/882/EEC (OJ L 378, 31/12/1982, p. 1), is to give its opinion on any measures proposed by the Commission which are necessary to adapt the Decision's provisions to technical or scientific progress. This Committee has not met for more than 5 years and there are no meetings scheduled. Therefore the most recent meeting predated the establishment of the Scottish Executive in 1999, and potential UK representation has not been addressed. In the event of any meeting being scheduled, officials in this Department would, as a matter of course, liaise with their counterparts in the Scottish Executive.

Overseas Visits

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will list the overseas trips on departmental business that have been undertaken in each of the last five years by officials in her Department; and what the (a) cost, (b) purpose and (c) result was in each case.

Elliot Morley: All overseas travel by officials in my Department is undertaken in accordance with the principles set in Chapter 8 of the Civil Service Management Code, and the detailed rules and guidance are set out in our Departmental staff handbook.
	The detailed information requested about individual trips is not held centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Nitrate Vulnerable Zone

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the administrative and regulatory costs to the Environment Agency of designating (a) 55 per cent. and (b) 100 per cent. of England as a nitrate vulnerable zone.

Michael Meacher: holding answer 10 July 2002
	Following a detailed consideration of all the issues raised during the consultation process, the Government announced on 27 June that it intends to adopt the targeted approach, and designate 55 per cent. of England as Nitrate Vulnerable Zones (NVZs).
	The Environment Agency is in the process of assessing the costs and resources required for administering and enforcing the new designations under the Nitrates Directive. Initial indications are that both options cost around £2 million each, excluding costs arising from staff training and resolving boundary disputes. This similarity between costs arises because even if the whole territory had been designated, the Agency would have adopted the same priority based approach to enforcement that it will be using in the newly designated areas.

Illegal Timber Imports

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on the illegal importation of timber from the Amazon basin.

Michael Meacher: Imports of illegally logged timber can only be seized at import by HM Customs and Excise where the timber concerned is covered by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) and can be identified as having been imported in breach of its requirements. The same is true of other Member States of the EU. Thus, even if producing countries establish independent verification of legal compliance with chain-of-custody tracking to ensure timber was legally or illegally logged, Customs cannot seize or reject imports of illegally logged timber unless they are covered by CITES. New EU-wide legislation is needed to empower customs authorities to prevent entry of illegally logged timber. The UK is working within the EU to identify what legislation is needed and how it can be introduced.

Waste

Jonathan Sayeed: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when the revised European Waste Catalogue and Hazardous Waste list published in February 2001 will come into force in the United Kingdom.

Michael Meacher: The UK will implement the European Waste Catalogue which now incorporates the Hazardous Waste List as part of its review of the Special Waste Regulations. A second round of consultation on the review will take place later this year and amended regulations are likely to come into force during 2003.

Waste

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what her estimate is for disposal of waste by landfill for each London borough in (a) the current year and (b) each of the last five years; and what her Department's prediction is for 2003–04.

Michael Meacher: Estimates on the disposal of waste by landfill are collected from London boroughs in the Department's annual Municipal Waste Management Survey. Four year's results from 1996–97 to 1999–2000 are set out in the table below. The latest data for 2000–01 will become available in August.
	In view of local authority recycling and composting targets and the forthcoming Landfill Directive targets to reduce the amount of biodegradable waste to landfill, we would expect to see disposal to landfill by local authorities to begin to decline over the next few years.
	
		Municipal Waste sent to Landfill thousand tonnes
		
			  Type 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 
		
		
			 London Borough of Bexley UA 66 37 37 42 
			 Corporation of London UA 59 64 68 70 
			 London Borough of Tower Hamlets UA 89 89 84 92 
			 Westminster City Council UA 91 91 117 107 
			 London Borough of Greenwich UA 15 23 23 47 
			 London Borough of Lewisham UA 3 3 3 6 
			 London Borough of Southwark UA 101 108 112 114 
			 London Borough of Bromley UA 144 153 150 169 
			 London Borough of Croydon UA 158 168 165 169 
			 London Borough of Kingston-upon-Thames UA 71 69 64 70 
			 London Borough of Merton UA 91 94 96 99 
			 London Borough of Sutton UA 66 66 81 77 
			 East London Waste Authority WDA 382 404 432 459 
			 North London Waste Authority WDA 351 444 457 380 
			 West London Waste Authority WDA 704 704 711 759 
			 Western Riverside Waste Authority WDA 441 458 454 462 
			 Total  2832 2975 3053 3124 
		
	
	UA—Unitary Authority
	WDA—Waste Disposal Authority

Waste

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what her estimate is of the available landfill waste disposal capacity for London boroughs; and if she plans to increase capacity.

Michael Meacher: holding answer 19 July 2002
	The availability of landfill capacity is a commercial matter for waste management companies. It is however recognised that suitable sites for landfill in the south-east of England are diminishing and planning authorities should take this into account. While the Government accepts that landfill has a part to play in waste disposal, it believes that the re-use, recycling and recovery of waste offers a much more sustainable future.

Reprocessing

David Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the capacity is in the United Kingdom for the reprocessing of (a) paper, (b) wood and (c) plastic.

Michael Meacher: holding answer 11 July 2002
	The Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) estimates that the UK capacity for the recycling of paper, wood and plastic is as follows:
	 Paper
	
		
			 Recycling Options 2001 est. (Kt) 
		
		
			 Newsprint 1320 
			 Packaging 2600 
			 Other grades e.g. tissue Tbc 
			  3920 
		
	
	Wood
	Capacity and utilisation estimates for the UK. Sources: Timber Packaging and Pallet Confederation (TIMCON), Wood Recyclers Assocation (WRA), Wood Panel Industries Federation (WPIF) and The Composting Association (TCA).
	
		
			 Recycling Options 2001 actual (Kt) Est. capacity 2002 (Kt) 
		
		
			 Panel board manufacturing 675 750 
			 Other mechanical recycling 30 50 
			 Composting 65 80 
			  770 930 
		
	
	Note:
	The forecast capacities for 2002 are derived from current industry estimates that are based on prevailing economic circumstances and the availability of wood waste (predominantly packaging material) that is suitable for recycling. The actual infrastructure is capable of consuming more wood waste but its further uptake is constrained by economic and technical barriers.
	Plastics
	Capacity and utilisation estimates for the UK. Source British Plastic Federation (BPF)—Recycling Council (RC).
	
		
			 Recycling stages Capacity (Kt) Utilisation (Kt) 
		
		
			 Washing 45 17 
			 Shred/granulate 400 200 
			 melt process 400 250 
		
	
	Note:
	The utilisation level is subject to market conditions as virgin or other non recycled material can replace recycled material if it becomes cheap enough or availability of recycled drops off.
	The figures are derived from a market study recently delivered to WRAP for which the analysis of results is incomplete. Therefore, the information should be treated as indicative only. More detailed estimates will be generated in due course.

Consultation

Brian Iddon: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many consultation documents published in 2001 in (a) electronic and (b) printed form her Department has monitored and evaluated in accordance with the Cabinet Office Code of Practice on Written Consultations.

Elliot Morley: All consultations were available in both electronic and printed form. Each was monitored and evaluated against key criteria set out in the Code of Practice on Written Consultations and which formed part of our annual report to Cabinet Office. Information was gathered on the number of consultations undertaken, periods given for responses, how responses were analysed, the level of complaints received about the consultation process, whether written consultations were supplemented by additional public involvement and examples of consultations that had a direct influence on policy or service delivery.

Hazardous Waste

Jonathan Sayeed: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the deadline is for adoption of the revised European Waste Catalogue and Hazardous Waste List into UK law.

Michael Meacher: The European Waste Catalogue which now incorporates the Hazardous Waste List came into force in January 2002. It will be implemented in the UK as part of the current review of the Special Waste Regulations. Amended Regulations are likely to come into force in the UK during 2003.

Hazardous Waste

Jonathan Sayeed: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans she has to issue special waste carriers licences to transport end-of-life electrical items that have been reclassified as hazardous waste.

Michael Meacher: A licence is not required for the transport of hazardous waste although since 1991 and in accordance with the EC Waste Framework Directive, waste carriers must be registered with the Environment Agency.

Hazardous Waste

Jonathan Sayeed: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether the new definitions of waste under the revised European Waste Catalogue and Hazardous Waste list require all end-of-life electrical products to be reclassified as hazardous waste.

Michael Meacher: Electrical or electronic equipment must contain hazardous components for them to be classified as hazardous under the European Waste Catalogue. Hazardous components may include accumulators and batteries containing lead, nickel/cadmium or mercury; mercury switches, and glass from cathode ray tubes and other activated glass, CFC or HCFC.

Hazardous Waste

Jonathan Sayeed: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether retailers will be able to continue to offer take-back of end-of-life electrical products through their home delivery networks when this is reclassified as hazardous waste.

Michael Meacher: Electrical or electronic equipment will be classified as hazardous waste only if it has hazardous components. We are aware that retailers are concerned that the reclassification may have implications for their take-back schemes and we are looking at ways of minimising any impact.

Hazardous Waste

Jonathan Sayeed: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate has been made of the cost to small businesses of the European Waste Catalogue and Hazardous Waste list.

Michael Meacher: The changes to the hazardous waste list, which is now incorporated within the European Waste Catalogue, are likely to lead to increased costs for hazardous waste disposal for many small businesses. A regulatory impact assessment estimating these costs will be published with the forthcoming consultation paper on the review of the UK Special Waste Regulations.

Hazardous Waste

Jonathan Sayeed: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what information the Government have given to (a) retailers, (b) manufacturers, (c) local authorities and (d) the waste sector on the revision of the hazardous waste list.

Michael Meacher: The changes to the hazardous waste list are to be implemented through a Review of the Special Waste Regulations. We issued a consultation paper containing proposed changes in March 2001. We expect to issue a second consultation paper with draft regulations, which will provide more information, in the next few months. We will consider what additional, more detailed guidance will be required for particular sectors.

Hazardous Waste

Jonathan Sayeed: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what restrictions will be imposed on retailers for handling and storing end-of-life electrical products that have been reclassified as electrical waste.

Michael Meacher: Electrical or electronic equipment will be classified as hazardous waste only if it has hazardous components. We are aware that retailers are concerned that the reclassification may have implications for their take-back schemes and we are looking at ways of minimising any impact.

Hazardous Waste

Jonathan Sayeed: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether the revised European Waste Catalogue and Hazardous Waste list will provide that retailers' special waste licences will require them to store end-of-life electrical items at places where they will be reclassified as hazardous waste.

Michael Meacher: We are aware that retailers are concerned that the reclassification of some electrical items as hazardous may have implications for their storage. We are looking at ways of minimising any impact and will include our recommendations in the forthcoming consultation paper on the review of the UK Special Waste Regulations.

Hazardous Waste

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what measures she has taken to ensure that civic amenity sites will be able to continue accepting end-of-life electrical products if they are reclassified as hazardous waste.

Michael Meacher: The Spending Review announced on 15 July that additional money would be available to local authorities via the EPCS block in future years. This will enable local authorities to make any modifications to the licence for a civic amenity site that may be necessary. We are aware that local authorities have some concerns about the implementation domestically of the European Waste Catalogue and we are looking at ways of minimising any impact.

Hazardous Waste

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the deadline is for adoption of the revised European Waste Catalogue and Hazardous Waste list into UK law; when it will come into force in the United Kingdom; and what estimate has been made of the cost to small businesses when the European Waste Catalogue and Hazardous Waste List comes into force in the UK.

Michael Meacher: The European Waste Catalogue, which incorporates the Hazardous Waste List, came into force in January 2002. It will be implemented in the UK as part of the current review of the Special Waste Regulations. Amended Regulations are likely to come into force in the UK during 2003. The changes are likely to lead to increased costs for hazardous waste disposal for many small businesses. A regulatory impact assessment estimating these costs will be published with the forthcoming consultation paper on the review of the UK Special Waste Regulations.

Hazardous Waste

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether the revised European Waste Catalogue and Hazardous Waste List will require retailers to have special waste licences to offload and store end-of-life electrical items at stores, depots and yards where they are reclassified as hazardous waste.

Michael Meacher: Electrical or electronic equipment will be classified as hazardous waste only if it has hazardous components. We are aware that retailers are concerned that the reclassification may have implications for their take-back schemes and we are looking at ways of minimising any impact. Our recommendations will be outlined in the consultation paper published as part of the current review of the UK Special Waste Regulations.

Hazardous Waste

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what information the Government have given to (a) retailers, (b) manufacturing, (c) local authorities and (d) the waste sector on the revision of the hazardous waste list.

Michael Meacher: The changes to the hazardous waste list are to be implemented through a Review of the Special Waste Regulations. We issued a consultation paper containing proposed changes in March 2001. We expect to issue a second consultation paper with draft regulations, which will provide more information, in the next few months. We will consider what additional, more detailed guidance will be required for particular sectors.

Hazardous Waste

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the impact of the revised European Waste Catalogue and Hazardous Waste List on UK business.

Michael Meacher: The changes to the hazardous waste list, which is now incorporated within the European Waste Catalogue, are likely to lead to increased costs for hazardous waste disposal for many businesses. A regulatory impact assessment estimating these costs will be published with the forthcoming consultation paper on the review of the UK Special Waste Regulations.

Hazardous Waste

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether the new definitions of waste under the revised European Waste Catalogue and Hazardous Waste List require all end-of-life electrical products to be reclassified as hazardous waste.

Michael Meacher: Electrical or electronic equipment must contain hazardous components for them to be classified as hazardous under the European Waste Catalogue. Hazardous components may include accumulators and batteries containing lead, nickel/cadmium or mercury; mercury switches, and glass from cathode ray tubes and other activated glass, CFC or HCFC.

Hazardous Waste

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what representations she has received from (a) local authorities, (b) retailers and (c) waste management companies about the impact of the revised European Waste Catalogue and Hazardous Waste List on the UK's disposal and recycling infrastructure.

Michael Meacher: We have had informal exchanges with all these stakeholders and are aware of their concerns. We will shortly be consulting on the current review of the UK Special Waste Regulations and will ensure all these groups are fully involved.

Hazardous Waste

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether retailers will be able to continue to offer take-back of end-of-life electrical products through their home delivery networks when this is reclassified as hazardous waste; and what plans she has to issue special waste carriers' licences to transport end-of-life electrical items that have been reclassified as hazardous waste.

Michael Meacher: Electrical or electronic equipment will be classified as hazardous waste only if it has hazardous components. We are aware that retailers are concerned that the reclassification may have implications for their take-back schemes and we are looking at ways of minimising any impact. Irrespective of this, a licence is not required for the transport of hazardous waste although since 1991 and in accordance with the EC Waste Framework Directive, waste carriers must be registered with the Environment Agency.

Hazardous Waste

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what restrictions will be imposed on retailers in handling and storing end-of-life electrical products that have been reclassified as hazardous waste.

Michael Meacher: We are aware that retailers are concerned that the reclassification of some electrical items as hazardous may have implications for their handling and storage. We are looking at ways of minimising any impact and will include our recommendations in the forthcoming consultation paper on the review of the UK Special Waste Regulations.

Hazardous Waste

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what types of waste previously not hazardous waste will be reclassified as hazardous waste; and what assessment she has made of the effect on disposal routes of the reclassification of waste as hazardous.

Michael Meacher: The European Hazardous Waste List (94/904/EC) has recently been extensively revised, and over 200 additions have been made. It will be transposed into UK law as part of the current review of the UK Special Waste Regulations. The most significant additions include end-of-life vehicles containing hazardous liquids or components, electrical equipment containing CFC/HCFC/HFC (fridges/freezers), and the following items if they contain hazardous substances: electrical equipment, contaminated soils, insulation materials, and bottom ash.
	Reclassification of waste as hazardous will restrict its disposal via landfill to those sites classified as landfill sites for hazardous waste by the Environment Agency. Landfill site operators should have submitted site conditioning plans (required by 16 July) detailing what classification they are seeking for their site. It is still too early to assess what hazardous waste capacity will be available after 16 July but the waste management industry have informed us that they do not foresee a shortfall.

Mooring (British Waterways)

Karen Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the (a) highest and (b) lowest residential mooring annual charge in London was in (i) 1996–97 and (ii) 2001–02.

Michael Meacher: British Waterways have provided the following information for these charges:
	
		
			  1997 2001 
		
		
			 Highest £2,645 £7,050 
			 Lowest £1,346 £1,506 
		
	
	Prices shown are for a 21 metre vessel inclusive of VAT. Historic data for private operators is not available.

Mooring (British Waterways)

Karen Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the average increase in mooring rates charged by British Waterways was for each region in England in each year since 1997.

Michael Meacher: British Waterways have provided the following information. Average percentage increases by region in 2002, were:
	North West 7.6 per cent.
	North East 2.7 per cent.
	Midlands 4.6 per cent.
	Southern 10.4 per cent.
	London 8 per cent.
	The information is not readily available in this form for earlier years.

Project Clearwater

Karen Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the terms of reference are of British Waterways Project Clearwater.

Michael Meacher: Project Clearwater is British Waterway's IT modernisation strategy which secured Departmental approval earlier this year. The project provides a business management system to improve BW's efficiency and to enhance its customer service.

Project Clearwater

Karen Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what consultation has been carried out by British Waterways on their latest review of mooring charges.

Michael Meacher: British Waterways have advised that a national review of mooring rates was formally announced in December 2001, following routine consultation meetings and exchanges with national user groups representing boating interests.
	A number of national user groups wished to see the previous "matrix score" pricing system retained. Their views were carefully considered, but BW took the view that the matrix did not allow sufficient flexibility for comparison to the private sector and market demand.
	All BW moorers were sent details of the increases and the policy underlying them in February. A minimum period of six weeks was allowed for feedback. BW have held discussions with individual boaters and in some cases, have postponed the renewal of mooring permits to allow additional time for consideration.

Project Clearwater

Karen Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what criteria are applied by British Waterways in determining a market rent for residential and non-residential moorings.

Michael Meacher: British Waterways' Framework Document requires it to charge a market rate for its services as far as practicable. British Waterway's local waterway management units maintain data about all moorings in the area, both those owned by BW and by others. Comparison of this data, together with an assessment of market trends, informs decisions on setting rates.

Project Clearwater

Karen Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what average price for (a) residential and (b) non-residential moorings was charged by British Waterways in each region in England in 2001–02.

Michael Meacher: British Waterways have advised that since the majority of their residential moorings are concentrated in London, they do not normally compile this data by region. The average charge for a residential mooring for a 21 metre boat in London in 2001–02 was £2,647. The average charge for a non-residential mooring was £2,079.

Project Clearwater

Karen Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the average percentage change has been in residential and non-residential mooring fees in London since 1997; and what average percentage change is planned for 2002–03.

Michael Meacher: British Waterways have provided the following information. The average rate based on the number of customers is set out below.
	
		
			  1997 actual 2001 actual 2002–03 planned 
		
		
			 Residential £1,797 £2,715 £3,285 
			 Non residential £1,919 £2,797 £2,943 
		
	
	Prices shown are for a 21 metre vessel inclusive of VAT.
	This includes data relating to new sites established since 1997. Rates for these sites have been set at relative market rates and have resulted in an increase in average mooring rates. The percentage change since 1997 is 47.7 per cent. The mooring rates for 2002–03 will result in a percentage change of 8 per cent. Historic data for private operators is not available.

Plastic Waste

David Kidney: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what research her Department has (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated into the health effects on (i) humans, (ii) animals and (iii) plants caused by the disposal of plastic products.

Michael Meacher: Research in this area concentrates on the health effects of waste management in general, rather than being related to specific materials in the waste stream.
	The Environment Agency is currently undertaking various projects to improve knowledge of the health impacts of waste management options (including incineration, landfill and waste recovery facilities) and is looking into the development and use of Health Impact Assessments.
	My Department recently hosted a seminar to consider where there are gaps in the research on health impacts of all waste management options and to help prioritise future research. Conducting such research will allow local authorities and others to make more informed choices about the range, type and location of facility they wish to operate.

Bushmeat Trade

Barry Gardiner: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent representations she has received from Mr. Clive Laurence from Ciel Logistics; and if her officials intend to meet him to discuss the illegal trade in bushmeat.

Michael Meacher: DEFRA Ministers have not received any recent representations from Mr. Laurence. He met with the Head of our Illegal Imports Team on 31 May to discuss illegal meat imports generally and the use of x-ray technology specifically. Mr. Laurence was invited to provide relevant evidence of illegal trade in bushmeat to the disease risk assessment that is currently being carried out by the Veterinary Laboratories Agency as part of the Governments' action plan to tackle illegal imports.

EU Waste Regulations

Jonathan Sayeed: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the impact of the revised European Waste Catalogue and Hazardous Waste List on UK business.

Michael Meacher: The changes to the hazardous waste list, which is now incorporated within the European Waste Catalogue, are likely to lead to increased costs for hazardous waste disposal for many businesses. A regulatory impact assessment estimating these costs will be published with the forthcoming consultation paper on the review of the UK Special Waste Regulations.

EU Committees

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when the EU Advisory Committee on waste management is next due to meet; whether representatives of the Scottish Executive (a) have been and (b) are members of it; and if she will make a statement.

Michael Meacher: The most recent EU Advisory Committee on Waste Management was held on 27 March 2002. The committee convenes approximately every 6 months. Dates have not been finalised for the next scheduled meeting.
	UK representation varies according to the agenda for each meeting and may include members of the Scottish Executive and other devolved administrations where there are items of sufficient interest.

EU Committees

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the answer of 4 July 2002, Official Report, column 607W, when members of the Scottish Executive have attended meetings of the EU Committee for the adaptation to technical and scientific progress of the Directive on the prevention and reduction of environmental pollution by asbestos; and if she will make a statement.

Michael Meacher: The EU Committee for the adaptation to technical and scientific progress of the Directive on the prevention and reduction of environmental pollution by asbestos has not met since the establishment of the Scottish Executive, so its officials have never attended it.

EU Committees

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the answer of 21 June 2002, Official Report, column 606W, when members of the Scottish Executive have attended meetings of the EU Committee on the Directive on packaging and packaging waste; and if she will make a statement.

Michael Meacher: The devolved administrations are kept fully informed of the work of the Committee and may send experts to the meetings if they wish. In this case, the Scottish Executive has judged its interests to be adequately covered by the representation from DTI and DEFRA. The representatives from the DTI and DEFRA on the Committee advance UK interests, and negotiating lines are agreed in advance between the departments and the devolved administrations.

EU Committees

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the answer of 1 July 2002, Official Report, column 69W, when members of the Scottish Executive have attended meetings of the EU Committee on the implementation of the Directive establishing a Community policy regarding water; and if she will make a statement.

Michael Meacher: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 1 July 2002, Official Report, column 69W. Since this committee has never met, members of the Scottish Executive have not attended any meetings.
	However, other meetings to consider aspects of implementation of the Water Framework Directive have taken place. Representatives from the Scottish Executive regularly attend meetings of the Water Directors of member states. Of late, this group's work has concentrated on the Water Framework Directive. It last met in Valencia on 10–12 June 2002 and a representative of the Scottish Executive attended. Scottish Executive officials also attend meetings of the Strategic Co-ordination Group on the implementation of the Water Framework Directive. This group last met on 29–30 April 2002 in Brussels and the UK team included a representative of the Scottish Executive.

EU Committees

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the answer of 11 July 2002, Official Report, column 1124W, when members of the Scottish Executive have attended meetings of the EU Management Committee for Fisheries Products; and if she will make a statement.

Elliot Morley: The Scottish Executive has been represented at all of the meetings which took place in the last year.

EU Committees

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the answer of 11 July 2002, Official Report, column 124W, when members of the Scottish Executive have attended meetings of the EU Management Committee for the fisheries and aquaculture sector; and if she will make a statement.

Elliot Morley: In the last six months, the Scottish Executive has been represented at 3 of the 6 meetings which took place.

EU Committees

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the answer of 8 July 2002, Official Report, column 691W, when members of the Scottish Executive have attended meetings of the EU Committee for the implementation of legislation on ambient air quality assessment and management; and if she will make a statement.

Michael Meacher: There have been no meetings of this committee so the attendance of members of the Scottish Executive would not have arisen.

EU Committees

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the answer of 8 July 2002, Official Report, column 691W, when members of the Scottish Executive have attended meetings of the EU Advisory Committee for the implementation of the directive on the reduction of the sulphur content of certain liquid fuels; and if she will make a statement.

Michael Meacher: The answer of 8 July, Official Report, column 691W, said that there had been no meetings of this committee in the last 12 months. That is incorrect: there was a meeting in April 2002. That was the first and only meeting of the committee. No members of the Scottish Executive attended that meeting.

EU Committees

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the answer of 3 July 2002, Official Report, columns 368–369W, when members of the Scottish Executive have attended meetings of the EU Committee for the adaptation to scientific and technical progress of the directive on water intended for human consumption; and if she will make a statement.

Michael Meacher: I refer the hon. Member to the written answer given to the hon. Member for Buckingham on 10 June, Official Report, column 915–916W.
	A representative of the Scottish Executive attended meetings held in November 2001 and in April 2002 of the Committee established under Article 12 of the Drinking Water Directive 1998.

EU Committees

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the answer of 9 July 2002, Official Report, column 842W, when members of the Scottish Executive have attended meetings of the EU Committee for the adaptation to scientific and technical progress of the Directive on protection of waters against pollution caused by nitrates from agricultural sources; and if she will make a statement.

Elliot Morley: In the period from September 2001 (the start of the new session) to date, Scottish Executive officials did not attend any of these meetings

EU Committees

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the answer of 3 July 2002, Official Report, column 371W, when members of the Scottish Executive have attended meetings of the EU Management Committee of the common organisations of agricultural markets for pigmeat; and if she will make a statement.

Elliot Morley: To date, no members of the Scottish Executive have attended the EU Management Committee of the common organisations of agricultural markets for pigmeat.

EU Committees

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the answer of 26 June 2002, Official Report, column 914W, when members of the Scottish Executive have attended meetings of the EU Committee on geographical indications and protected designations of origin for agricultural products and foodstuffs; and if she will make a statement.

Elliot Morley: Members of the Scottish Executive have attended meetings of the EU Committee on geographical indications and protected designations of origin 6 times within the last 5 years.

EU Committees

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the answer of 26 June 2002, Official Report, column 914W, when members of the Scottish Executive have attended meetings of the EU Committee on conservation, characterisation, collection and utilisation of genetic resources in agriculture; and if she will make a statement.

Elliot Morley: To date, no members of the Scottish Executive have attended meetings of this Committee.

EU Committees

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to her answer of 2 July 2002, Official Report, column 248W, when members of the Scottish Executive have attended meetings of the EU Management Committee of the common organisations of agricultural markets for sheep and goats; and if she will make a statement.

Elliot Morley: In the period from September 2001 (the start of the new session) to date, Scottish Executive officials have attended 3 of these meetings.

EU Committees

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs with regard to the answer of 26 June 2002, Official Report, column 913W, when members of the Scottish Executive have attended meetings of the EU Implementation Committee for Spirit Drinks; and if she will make a statement.

Elliot Morley: The Spirit Drinks Implementation Committee (SDIC) is mandated by Council Regulation 1576/89 and is responsible for the general rules on the definition, description and presentation of spirit drinks as laid down in that Regulation.
	UK representation on SDIC meetings is determined according to the agenda items that are proposed for discussion and can include members of the Scottish Executive and other devolved administrations. Following consultation with devolved administrations about each SDIC agenda so far, it has been agreed that Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs alone would represent UK interests.

EU Committees

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the answer of 3 July 2002, Official Report, column 370W, when members of the Scottish Executive have attended meetings of the EU Committee on certificates of specific character for agricultural products and foodstuffs; and if she will make a statement.

Elliot Morley: Members of the Scottish Executive have attended meetings of the EU Committee on certificates of specific character once within the last 5 years.

EU Committees

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the answer of 2 July 2002, Official Report, column 248W, when members of the Scottish Executive have attended meetings of the EU Management Committee of the common organisations of agricultural markets for beef and veal; and if she will make a statement.

Michael Meacher: The UK delegation to the Committee for the adaptation to scientific and technical progress on the EC Nitrates Directive ("the Article 9 committee") included officials from the Scottish Executive on the 26 October 1999 (12 meeting), 6 December 2001 (15 meeting) and 17 June 2002 (16 meeting).

EU Committees

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when the EU Standing Committee for Foodstuffs is next due to meet; whether representatives of the Scottish Executive (a) have been and (b) are members of it; and if she will make a statement.

Hazel Blears: I have been asked to reply.
	The Standing Committee for Food was replaced by the Standing Committee on Animal Health and the Food Chain (Section: Food Safety and Controls) from 21 February 2002, by virtue of EP/Council Regulation 178/2002. The United Kingdom is represented on this Committee by officials, usually from the Food Standards Agency (FSA) and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). The Scottish Executive is regularly consulted on, and is fully involved in discussions, at official and Ministerial level, with both the FSA and DEFRA on the formulation of European Union policy which touches on matters which fall within the responsibilities of the Scottish Executive. Representatives of the Scottish Executive may attend as part of the UK delegation, should the subject matter require this. The Standing Committee is next due to meet on 11/12 September 2002.
	[This information is correct as at Friday, 2 August 2002]

Livestock Movements

David Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will place in the Library the latest scientific advice that she has received on the justification for the 20-day rule on livestock movements.

Margaret Beckett: holding answer 16 July 2002
	A paper explaining the veterinary basis for the Interim Movements Regime, including the 20-day standstill, was placed in the Library on 7 February 2002 (Number 02/276 and has also been published on the DEFRA website (www.defra.gov.uk/footandmouth).
	This is currently being reviewed following discussions with representatives of the cattle and sheep veterinary societies. We will also take into account the recommendations of the Royal Society and Anderson inquiry reports on this issue. We will shortly publish an updated paper outlining the latest scientific and veterinary advice.

Livestock Movements

David Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent representations she has received from the Sheep Veterinary Society about the 20-day rule.

Margaret Beckett: holding answer 19 July 2002
	The Sheep Veterinary Society have written to DEFRA officials suggesting that the 20-day standstill could be replaced by a 5-day standstill.

Land Disposals

Paddy Tipping: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many parcels of land have been identified by the Forestry Commission for disposal in England; how many have been the subject of agreement offers to the local planning authority to secure continued access to the land; how many have been sold; and how many of those sold were subject to access agreements in each year since 1997.

Elliot Morley: holding answer 16 July 2002
	The Forestry Commission has freedom to sell some woodlands due to their relatively small size and location, as part of the continuous process of rationalisation of its estate. This process involves the acquisition of land which will contribute to the Commission's wide-ranging objectives, as well as the sale of certain areas.
	In all sales cases, the Forestry Commission notifies the relevant Local Authority when an area of woodland is to be sold. The information concerning Forestry Commission woodland sales and Continued Public Access Agreements (CPA) in England, for each year since 1997, is therefore as follows:
	
		
			 Financial Year Number of woodlands identified for sale Number of woodlands sold CPA Offered CPA Accepted 
		
		
			 1997–98 16 52 1 29 8 
			 1998–99 3 30 13 3 
			 1999–2000 10 11 8 0 
			 2000–01 11 17 5 1 
			 2001–02 8 18 3 0 
			 Total 1 137 128 58 12 
		
	
	1 At the start of Financial Year 1997–98, the Forestry Commission had a total of 89 woodlands already identified for sale.

Disposal And Recycling

Jonathan Sayeed: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what representations she has received from (a) local authorities, (b) retailers and (c) waste management companies about the impact of the revised European Waste Catalogue and Hazardous Waste list on the UK's disposal and recycling infrastructure.

Michael Meacher: We have had informal exchanges with all these stakeholders and are aware of their concerns. We will shortly be consulting on the current review of the UK Special Waste Regulations and will ensure all these groups are fully involved.

GM Crop Trials

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the conclusions were of the GM crop trials in Herefordshire.

Michael Meacher: The results of the farm-scale evaluations will be not be published until data from all trial sites has been collated. Results for spring sown crops (maize, beet spring oil seed rape) should be available in summer 2003 and results of winter oil seed rape in 2004.

Chromate Copper Arsenate-treated Wood

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Health regarding the safety of CCA pressure treated wood.

Michael Meacher: The European Commission has drawn up proposals under the Marketing and Use Directive (76/769/EEC) to prohibit the use of CCA wood preservatives, but with derogations to allow continued use in a number of essential areas where human contact is limited. Draft proposals are currently being considered by Member States and discussions on the content of the proposal have taken place between officials from Department of Health, DTI who represent the views of the construction industry/consumers and HSE who regulate wood preservative products under the Control of Pesticide Regulations (1986).

Chromate Copper Arsenate-treated Wood

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what representations her Department has received regarding risk assessments of CCA pressure treated wood her Department has performed.

Michael Meacher: The Department has not carried out any risk assessment of wood pretreated with copper/chrome/arsenic (CCA) wood preservative.
	In the UK wood preservative products are regulated under the Control of Pesticide Regulations (1986) and the Health and Safety Executive lead on such non-agricultural pesticides. CCA is approved for use in products for pressure impregnation at industrial sites. This follows the advice to Ministers from the independent Advisory Committee on Pesticides (ACP) that such products do not present any risk to human health or the environment.
	Recently an expert advisory committee to the European Commission the Scientific Committee on Toxicity, Ecotoxicity and the Environment (SCTEE) has reviewed the safety of wood treated with this preservative and has concluded that there may be a risk to health of children from the use of such treated timber in playground equipment and also when treated wood is burnt or disposed.
	The European Commission has drawn up proposals under the Marketing and Use Directive to prohibit the use of CCA wood preservatives, but with derogations to allow continued use in a number of essential areas where human contact is limited. Draft proposals are currently being considered by Member States.

Chromate Copper Arsenate-treated Wood

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what measures her Department has undertaken to prevent the household burning of arsenic-treated waste wood.

Michael Meacher: holding answer 17 July 2002
	The Clean Air Act 1993 prohibits the use of unauthorised fuel (such as wood and bituminous coal) in domestic grates in houses located in designated smoke control areas. Some closed domestic stoves are permitted for use in smoke control areas to burn specific types of wood, which are usually specified as firewood or wood or untreated dry wood.
	The EU Scientific Committee on Toxicity, Ecotoxicity and the Environment has recently advised that there may be a risk to human health when wood treated with copper/chrome/arsenic (CCA) wood preservative is burnt. The European Commission has therefore drawn up proposals under the Marketing and Use Directive to prohibit the use of CCA wood preservatives, except for a limited number of essential areas where human contact is limited. Draft proposals are currently being considered by Member States and will form the basis of harmonised European Community controls on CCA.

Chromate Copper Arsenate-treated Wood

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what representations her Department has received regarding the (a) incineration and (b) landfill disposal of chromate copper arsenate pressure treated wood and its effects on (i) air and (ii) water pollution levels.

Michael Meacher: holding answer 17 July 2002
	I am not aware that the Department has received any representations regarding wood pressure treated with chromate copper arsenate. Any question of the incineration or landfill of these chemicals or any evaluation of the environmental impacts of imported chemicals or pressure treated wood would be a matter for the Environment Agency, who control disposal facilities for hazardous waste.
	However, the UK has agreed to take back chromated copper arsenate waste from Djibouti. This waste resulted from a huge leakage at the dockside in Djibouti, and is being taken back on environmental and humanitarian grounds, as Djibouti does not have facilities to dispose of such waste.

EU Directive on Environmental Liability

David Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the impact on (a) British business and (b) the public sector of the draft EU Directive on environmental liability.

Margaret Beckett: The draft Directive was adopted by the Commission in January 2002 and DEFRA launched a public consultation on the proposals on April 12. Extensive study has been carried out throughout this period to assess the impact of the draft Directive. Through direct consultation with a selection of stakeholders, and using the responses received to the public consultation, DEFRA recently produced an extended partial Regulatory Impact Assessment (COM (02) 17) which considers the potential benefits and costs of the draft Directive.
	The assessment indicates that much of the environmental damage that would fall within the scope of the proposed regime is already subject to existing domestic legislation. It does suggest however, that the proposed Directive could have additional positive environmental benefits, by requiring higher standards of remediation and by encouraging operators to take additional precaution. Businesses could face additional costs through, amongst other things, possible financial security requirements, and additional expenditure on precautionary measures. Additional study is being carried out in this area in order to quantify such costs.
	In requiring higher standards of remediation, the responsibilities of the Competent Authority, which is designated by the Member State to require operators to take preventative or restorative measures, would be increased. Under the Commission's proposal, the Competent Authority would have a duty to take action to remedy damage if the liable party could not be found. A preliminary assessment provided by selected enforcement agencies indicates that the Directive would largely constitute an extension of existing responsibilities although there would be some new duties. Therefore there may be some resource implications.
	The Government supports a regime which is equitable, proportionate, clear, insurable, easy to implement, does not damage business competitiveness, and delivers clear environmental benefits. Consequently, assessment of the potential impact of the draft Directive is ongoing to inform the UK position in the negotiations.

EU Directive on Environmental Liability

David Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on the Government's policy towards the draft EU Directive on environmental liability.

Margaret Beckett: The purpose of the proposed Directive is to establish a framework for the prevention and remediation of environmental damage in accordance with the principle that the polluter pays. This represents an important and significant development in EC environmental law. The Government has therefore conducted a public consultation on the proposals, and the UK position on the detail of the proposal will be finalised in the light of the comments received.
	In broad terms, the Government supports a regime which is equitable, proportionate, clear, insurable, easy to implement, does not damage business competitiveness, and delivers clear environmental benefits.
	The partial regulatory impact assessment submitted to Parliament (COM (02) 17), indicates that much of the environmental damage covered by the Directive is already the subject of existing domestic regimes, but the proposals go further in some respects. The Directive would set higher standards of remediation and introduce the concepts of equivalent compensation and interim losses. Further benefits would arise from introducing a regime across the European Community which would harmonise the rules and standards for environmental liability across member states. Provided that the right balance between costs and benefits is achieved, this proposal could therefore play a useful part in safeguarding the environment.

Technetium-99 Leakage

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  what representations her Department has received regarding (a) leakage levels of technetium-99 into groundwater at Sellafield and (b) the point source origin of such leakage;
	(2)  what representations her Department has received regarding the effect on the food chain of technetium-99 leakage into groundwater.

Margaret Beckett: holding answer 17 July 2002
	My Department has not received any representations on these issues.

Technetium-99 Leakage

David Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessement she has made of the possible environmental policy gains that would arise from the implementation of the draft EU Directive on environmental liability.

Margaret Beckett: The extended partial Regulatory Impact Assessment, submitted to Parliament (COM (02) 17) considers the potential gains that would arise from implementation of the draft Directive. It concludes that much of the environmental damage covered within the scope of the proposed Directive is already subject to a number of domestic regimes.
	However, the assessment does establish that there could potentially be positive environmental benefits, resulting in particular from the setting of higher standards of remediation that would require more extensive remediative action. Furthermore, the introduction of equivalent remediation, which would require restorative action to be carried out at an alternative site, and the concept of compensation for interim losses would go further than existing legislation.
	Additional benefits could result from an increase in preventative action by those carrying out potentially damaging activities. Consequently, less environmental damage may occur.

Technetium-99 Leakage

David Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will place in the Library copies of responses to the Government's public consultation on the draft EU Directive on environmental liability.

Margaret Beckett: The public consultation on proposals for a Directive on environmental liability ended on 24 May 2002 and a study has been undertaken of all of the responses received. The responses helped to inform the UK position at the June Environment Council and the extended partial Regulatory Impact Assessment.
	Copies of all responses to the Government's public consultation have been placed in the DEFRA library.

Technetium-99 Leakage

David Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when she expects the Council of Ministers next to debate the draft EU Directive on Environmental Liability

Margaret Beckett: We expect the Council to discuss the draft Directive on environmental liability in October. The indications are that if this occurs, discussion will centre on a progress report.

Sewage

Joan Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the Government's policy is on recycling sewage sludge on land as an environmentally sustainable option; when the revised regulations will be available for consultation; and if she will make a statement.

Michael Meacher: As stated in its Waste Strategy 2000, the Government considers that recovering value from sewage sludge through spreading on agricultural land is the best practicable environmental option in most circumstances. Agricultural use of sludge brings savings of several million pounds in fertiliser costs and the organic matter improves soil structure, its workability and water holding capacity.
	The Sludge (Use in Agriculture) Regulations 1989 (SI 1263) as amended in 1990 (SI 880), impose controls on the application of sludge to agricultural land to prevent the accumulation of heavy metals in the soil and to prevent bacteriological contamination of crops. These controls are supplemented by a non-statutory Code of Practice and the "Safe Sludge Matrix" a voluntary agreement drawn up in 1998 by Water UK (representing the water companies) and the British Retail Consortium.
	The Government welcomes the development of the Matrix and has indicated that it will reflect the tighter standards it contains in revised regulations. We plan to issue a consultation document seeking views on the proposed revisions in the very near future.

French Beef Ban

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what representations she has made to other member states of the European Union since the refusal of the French Government to lift the ban on the import of UK beef within the 15 day period set down by the European Court.

Elliot Morley: holding answer 18 July 2002
	None.

French Beef Ban

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what discussions she plans to have with French representatives concerning the export of beef from the UK to France.

Elliot Morley: The Secretary of State regularly raises the French Government's illegal ban on British beef with her French counterpart and will continue to do so until the ban is lifted.

Parrett Catchment Project

Ian Liddell-Grainger: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what guidelines have been issued to the Parrett catchment project by the Government; and what its remit is.

Elliot Morley: The Parrett Catchment project is a local partnership and as such is not subject to Government guidelines. We have welcomed the initiative and continue to encourage the project to analyse proposed options further and to integrate with existing government sponsored initiatives such as the Catchment Flood Management Plan.

Parrett Catchment Project

Jonathan Sayeed: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what measures she has taken to ensure civic amenity sites will be able to continue accepting end-of-life electrical products if they are reclassified as hazardous waste.

Michael Meacher: The Spending Review announced on 15 July that additional money would be available to local authorities via the EPCS block in future years. This will enable local authorities to make any modifications to the licence for a civic amenity site that may be necessary. We are aware that local authorities have some concerns about the implementation domestically of the European Waste Catalogue and we are looking at ways of minimising any impact.

Area-based Initiatives

Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will list for each area-based initiative for which her Department is responsible the amount originally budgeted for in (a) 2000–01 and (b) 2001–02, stating in each year what funds budgeted for were not spent and if they were carried forward.

Elliot Morley: I refer the hon. Member to the Answer given by my hon. Friend, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (Mr. Christopher Leslie) on 24 July, Official Report, column 1206W.

Exmoor

Ian Liddell-Grainger: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps she will take under the CAP reforms to ensure Exmoor gets grant aid for environmental projects.

Elliot Morley: The European Commission's proposals for reform of the Common Agricultural Policy include ideas for the progressive transfer of resources away from production subsidies towards wider social and economic objectives. The proposals will be subject to negotiations in the Council of Ministers.
	The Government supports the general direction of the reform proposals, but it is too early to say what the outcome will be in terms of extra grant aid for environmental projects. Exmoor is already designated as an Environmentally Sensitive Area, and is eligible for grants under the ESA scheme which are only available in the 10 per cent. of England that is so designated.

Hydrofluorocarbons

Jonathan Sayeed: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to her answer of 25 March 2002, Official Report, column 717W, what conclusions have been reached by the Sustainable Procurement Group on enabling Government departments to work more closely with their suppliers with the intention of notifying suppliers more effectively of the Government's view of hydrofluorocarbons as a non-sustainable technology.

Michael Meacher: The Secretary of State has established a high level inter-departmental Sustainable Procurement Group to look at how sustainable development can be more fully embedded into central-government procurement. One angle is that we are trying to ensure that procurement practitioners comply fully with Government policy and ensure that Government procurement properly supports sustainable development. That would include Government policy on HCFC/HFC free products wherever possible.
	HFCs are not sustainable in the long term—the Government believes that continued technological developments will mean that HFCs may eventually be able to be replaced in the applications where they are used.
	Guidance to Departments is provided in the action sheets on "Climate Change" and "Ozone Depleting Substances" in the Green Guide for Buyers, available on www.sustainable-development.gov.uk. This is:
	1. No purchase of products or equipment containing ozone depleting substances such as hydrochloro- fluorocarbons (HCFCs), halons, carbon tetrachloride, 111 trichloroethane and bromochloromethane, which are banned or being phased out under EC Regulation.
	2. Products should be free of gaseous and non-gaseous substances that contribute to climate change where it is safe, cost-effective and technically feasible to do so. Substances with a high global warming potential which should be avoided wherever practicable include HFCs—used in refrigerants and fire extinguishing systems.

Recycling

Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs for what reason glass, ceramics and metals, recovered after thermal and other industrial processing, cannot be included in recycling targets under the Audit Commission's best-value definition.

Michael Meacher: The Government encourages material recovery in all its forms. However in line with the waste hierarchy set out in the Waste Framework Directive and Waste Strategy 2000, the Government particularly wants to see a major increase in the primary recycling and composting of household waste rather than in landfill or incineration. The Government has therefore set local authorities statutory targets for the recycling and composting of household waste that exclude residues from incineration.

Bottlenosed Dolphin

Linda Perham: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on the future of the bottle-nosed dolphin in British waters.

Michael Meacher: Bottlenose dolphins are protected in the Great Britain under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. Section 9 of the 1981 Act makes it an offence to intentionally kill or injure this species. In England and Wales this protection was strengthened by the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 that introduced a new offence of intentional or reckless disturbance.
	The bottlenose dolphin is also listed under Annex II of the Council Directive (92/43/EEC) on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and of Wild Fauna and Flora. This requires the designation of protected areas for bottlenose dolphins. Three such areas have been designated as candidate Special Areas of Conservation (SAC) for their local bottlenose dolphin populations. Cardigan Bay and the Lleyn Peninsula and the Sarnau in Wales and the Moray Firth in Scotland.
	As part of the UK's biodiversity strategy, the Government has developed action plans for the conservation of certain species and habitats. Small dolphins, which include bottlenose dolphins, have such a plan. This aims to maintain the dolphins' current range and abundance and, in the longer term, to increase the ranges of small dolphin populations where appropriate. The plan's objectives include minimising the incidental capture of dolphins in fishing nets, reducing acoustic disturbance and improving coastal water quality by reducing pollution. A co-ordinated steering group has been set up to take forward cetacean action plans and comprises representatives from non-government organisations, such as the RSPCA, the government, fishermen and other stakeholders.

Business Diversification

Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what level of support her Department has given initiatives aimed at encouraging new business diversification in each of the past five years.

Alun Michael: DEFRA provides grants for farmers in England seeking to pursue good diversification projects under the Rural Enterprise Scheme. The scheme was launched in October 2000 as part of the England Rural Development Programme. Grant expenditure on diversification projects amounted to £5.3 million in 2001. The level of activity in 2001 was affected by the Foot and Mouth Disease outbreak and is expected to rise to about £7.5 million in 2002.
	Support for diversification in earlier years was provided via the Objective 5b Scheme, now closed, which was targeted on six disadvantaged rural areas in England. The scheme encompassed support for a range of measures and disaggregated figures for diversification projects are not available. Total scheme expenditure for the past five years is shown in the following table.
	
		
			 Year Objective 5b expenditure (£ million) 
		
		
			 1997 5.7 
			 1998 12.5 
			 1999 15.7 
			 2000 21.7 
			 2001 28.8 
		
	
	In addition, the Farm Business Advice Service was launched in October 2000 to provide farm businesses with a business health check and identify possible future business options, including whether or not to diversify. Expenditure under this initiative amounted to £0.7 million in 2000 and £6.25 million in 2001. From September 2001 the Department has also offered assistance in the form of free planning consultancy advice to farmers who intend to pursue an eligible diversification project through the Rural Enterprise Scheme.

National Air Quality Strategy

Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the target date for achievement of compliance with the National Air Quality Strategy objective is.

Michael Meacher: holding answer 19 July 2002
	The objectives and compliance dates are set out in the following table.
	
		Air quality objectives for protection of human health
		
			 Pollutant Objective* Concentration Date to be measured as achieved by 
		
		
			 Benzene 16.25 g/m 3  (5ppb) running annual mean 31 December 2003 
			 1,3-butadiene 2.25 g/m 3  (1ppb)running annual mean 31 December 2003 
			 Carbon monoxide 11.6mg/m 3  (10ppm) running 8 hour mean 31 December 2003 
			 Lead 0.5 g/m 3 annual mean 31 December 2004 
			  0.25 g/m 3 annual mean 31 December 2008 
			 Nitrogen dioxide 200 g/m 3 (105ppb) 1 hour mean 31 December 2005 not to be exceeded more than 18 times a year 
			  40 g/m 3 (21ppb) annual mean 31 December 2005 
			 Particles (PM 1  0 ) 50 g/m 3  not to be exceeded more than 35 times a year 24 hour mean 31 December 2004 
			  40 g/m 3 annual mean 31 December 2004 
			 Sulphur dioxide 350 g/m 3 (132ppb) 1 hour mean 31 December 2004 not to be exceeded more than 24 times a year 
			  125 g/m 3  (47ppb) not to be exceeded more than 3 times a year 24 hour mean 31 December 2004 
			  266 g/m 3  (100ppb) 15 minute mean 31 December 2005 not to be exceeded more than 35 times a year 
			 Ozone 100 g/m 3  (50ppb) not to be exceeded more than 10 times a year daily maximum of running 8 hour mean 31 December 2005 
			 Objectives for the protection of vegetation and ecosytems 
			 Nitrogen oxides 30 g/m 3  (16ppb) annual mean 31 December 2000 
			 Sulphur dioxide 20 g/m 3  (8ppb) annual mean 31 December 2000 
			  20g/m 3 (8ppb) winter average (1 October to 31 March) 31 December 2000  
		
	
	1 *g/m: micrograms per cubic metre
	2 mg/m: milligrames per cubic metre
	3 ppb/ppm: parts per billion/million
	Further details of these objectives, together with modelled forecasts for each pollutant, are set out in the January 2000 Air Quality Strategy for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The document can be viewed on the DEFRA website at http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/airquality/index.htm.

Overcharging

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Carlisle (Mr. Mathew) of 12 July 2002, Official Report, column 1233W, on overcharging, how many cases are being pursued for overcharging; and if she will initiate an investigation following the settlement of accounts to determine the (a) scale and (b) implications of this aspect of the foot and mouth clean-up.

Elliot Morley: holding answer 19 July 2002
	Pursuant to the answer I gave to the honourable Member for Carlisle of 12 July, I refer my Hon. Friend to Figure 60 in Chapter 4 of the recent NAO Report The 2001 Outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease published on 18 June 2002. The Report is available on the NAO's website on http://www.nao.gov.uk/publications/naoreports/ 01-02/0102939.pdf. Information other than that provided in the NAO report cannot be provided at this time for reasons of legal and commercial confidentiality. A value for money study and a commercial lessons learned report are being prepared though they cannot be finalised until the forensic examination of the accounts of contractors is completed. The findings and recommendations of the study and report will be shared with the National Audit Office and the Office of Government Commerce. It is the Department's intention to publish these findings and recommendations on the Departmental website subject only to unavoidable obligations in respect of legal and commercial confidentiality.

Overcharging

David Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make it her policy to apply different standstill rules for movements of different species of livestock.

Margaret Beckett: We wish to consider—and discuss with stakeholders—the relevant recommendations of the Royal Society and Lessons Learned Inquiries before making any decisions about the future of the 20-day standstill.

Fox Population

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent representations she has received concerning problems created by the urban fox population; and if she will make a statement.

Michael Meacher: holding answer 19 July 2002
	We have received a small number of representations concerning problems arising from the presence of urban foxes. The Department recognises that foxes can cause problems in urban areas and publishes advice to householders on managing fox problems. Responsibility for the control of foxes rests with those people who most benefit from such control, that is, individual property owners and occupiers, who may engage private pest control contractors to undertake this work. There is no statutory requirement for local authorities to control foxes in their areas.

Fox Population

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what her latest estimate is of the total fox population of the United Kingdom, by region; and what the figures were in each of the past five years.

Michael Meacher: holding answer 19 July 2002
	The latest estimate of the fox population in the United Kingdom is taken from a CSL report published in 1997. In 1995 the total pre-breeding fox population in Britain was estimated to be 240,000, comprising:
	
		
			  Number 
		
		
			 England 195,000 
			 Scotland 23,000 
			 Wales 22,000 
		
	
	No more recent figures are available.

Urban Foxes

Edward Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what her Department's policy is with regard to the problem of urban foxes, with particular reference to the Borough of Oadby and Wigston, Leicestershire; and if she will make a statement.

Michael Meacher: The Department recognises that foxes can cause problems in urban areas and publishes advice to householders on managing fox problems. Responsibility for the control of foxes rests with those people who most benefit from such control, that is, individual property owners and occupiers, who may engage private pest control contractors to undertake this work. There is no statutory requirement for local authorities to control foxes in their areas.
	We have received no recent representations from the Borough of Oadby and Wigston, Leicestershire, about urban foxes.

Milk Marketing

Adam Price: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps the Government are undertaking to improve the marketing of milk.

Elliot Morley: The marketing of food products is a commercial matter for the companies concerned. But we have extended the remit of the Milk Development Council to allow it to undertake generic promotional activities, funded by levy payers.

Milk Marketing

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what figures she collates on the level of the urban fox population; and what the population was in each of the past five years.

Michael Meacher: holding answer 19 July 2002
	The Department does not routinely collate data on the levels of urban fox populations, but commissions research into the subject from time to time. A report issued in 1997 estimated the UK urban fox population at 33,000. In a survey of 139 councils conducted in 2001, most expressed the opinion that the urban fox population density in their area had risen.
	The Department holds no figures on the levels of urban fox populations for each of the past five years.

Rural Economy

Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many new enterprises her Department has stimulated in the rural economy in each of the past five years.

Alun Michael: The former Processing and Marketing Grant Scheme was closed to new applicants in 1996, while payments under both the new strands of expenditure under the England Rural Development Programme started in 2001. The following table shows projects supported by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and its predecessors in each of the past five years under these Schemes to assist the establishment of new rural businesses or new business developments in existing rural enterprises.
	
		
			 Year Processing and Marketing Grant Scheme (pre-ERDP)* ERDP Processing and Marketing Grant Scheme ERDP Rural Enterprise Scheme Total 
		
		
			 1997 28 - - 28 
			 1998 21 - - 21 
			 1999 22 - - 22 
			 2000 4 0 0 4 
			 2001 Closed 27 198 225 
		
	
	* Closed to new applicants in England in 1996. The figures shown reflect final payments made to successful projects in each of the relevant years.
	Current indications are that the number of businesses helped under RES and PMG will be significantly higher this year, at around double last year's figures, as applications increase from the foot and mouth affected levels of 2001.
	Assistance is also available to rural businesses under other grant schemes but it would not be possible to identify the number of new or expanding businesses resulting from such assistance except at disproportionate cost.
	In addition Regional Development Agencies are required to support the creation of new businesses in both rural and non-rural areas using DEFRA as well as other Departments' funding contributions. Information on the number of businesses stimulated is, however, unavailable.

Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment

Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  if her Department has responsibility for the implementation of the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive into UK law;
	(2)  who has represented the UK at the EU Council of Ministers during discussions of the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive;
	(3)  who will represent the UK on the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive in the forthcoming EU conciliation meetings.

Michael Meacher: The Secretary of State and I represent the UK at the EU Environment Council of Ministers during discussions on the WEEE Directive.
	Officials from the UK Permanent Representation to the European Union, led by the UK Deputy Permanent Representative, will represent the UK in the forthcoming EU conciliation committee meetings on the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive.
	A decision is yet to be made as to whether DTI or my department will have responsibility for transposing the WEEE Directive into UK law.

Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment

Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps she is taking to ensure that consumers do not pay twice for the recycling of waste electrical and electronic equipment.

Michael Meacher: The proposed EC Directive on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment is a Producer Responsibility directive which requires producers to provide for the financing of the collection, treatment, recovery and environmentally sound disposal of WEEE from private households deposited at collection facilities, onwards.
	The Common Position text of the draft Directive—which is still under negotiation and subject to change—stipulates that consumers must be able to return items of WEEE free of charge. The text does not, however, outline the methods by which producers are to provide for the above financing. Without a final text, it is not possible to provide details of how the Directive will be implemented in the UK.

Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment

Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what mechanisms she is putting into place to prevent companies avoiding their responsibilities for recycling under the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive.

Michael Meacher: The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive is still under negotiation and without a final text it is too early to outline details of how the Directive will be implemented in the UK.
	Throughout negotiation of the Directive, the Government has kept industry informed of their likely responsibilities under the Directive and we have reported back on developments in the negotiations in Brussels as they happen.
	The Government will be working with the Environment Agency to ensure that the appropriate penalties are in place for use in cases of non-compliance, as required under the Directive.

Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment

Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what she has done to ensure that the views of (a) environmental and consumer organisations and (b) electronics companies are taken into account in the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive.

Michael Meacher: The Department and the DTI are in regular contact with industry, including environmental and consumer organizations and electronics companies, about the proposed Directive and its implementation in the UK.
	In particular–
	formal DTI consultation was issued in summer 2000. The results were published by the DTI in December 2000;
	DTI and DEFRA officials have presented on WEEE at conferences and seminars totalling 23 times in past 6 months;
	The DTI host a series of meetings with retailers focusing on the retailer requirements in the Directive and similar focus groups are planned on permitting and for manufacturers by sector;
	DEFRA and the DTI are working together with the Small Business Service to organise twenty events in England to raise awareness of the requirements of the Directive and discuss potential implementation methods. Representatives from all stakeholder groups will be invited to put forward their views. Similar events in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are being planned with the Devolved Administrations.
	The Government takes into account the views of industry when drawing up our negotiation lines and will continue to do so throughout implementation in the UK.

Faith Communities

Paul Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will list projects involving faith communities which are supported by her Department.

Elliot Morley: The Department is not currently involved in any faith-based projects and does not provide financial support to any faith communities.

Noise Complaints

David Heath: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many and what proportion of noise complaints were caused by acoustic or non-amplified music being played in pubs, bars or nightclubs in (a) 2000, (b) 2001 and (c) 2002; and if she will make a statement.

Michael Meacher: Data on UK noise complaints are not collected specifically for acoustics or non-amplified music being played in pubs, bars or nightclubs. However, figures are available for the number of noise complaints resulting from commercial and leisure activities that were reported to Environmental Health Officers in England and Wales. This category includes pubs, bars, nightclubs, food premises, retail stores and sporting pursuits.
	
		
			 Year Commercial and Leisure Noise Complaints per million population Noise Complaints (all categories) per million population Commercial and Leisure Noise Complaints as % of Total 
		
		
			 2000–01 1,038 7,081 14.7 
			 1999–2000 960 7,091 13.5 
			 1998–99 836 6,111 13.7 
		
	
	Source:
	CIEH 1999, 2000, 2001
	The corresponding figures for 2001–02 are expected to be available later this year.

Modulation

David Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will hold discussions with the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors on its study on The Impact of Modulation; and if she will make a statement.

Margaret Beckett: holding answer 22 July 2002
	I have received a number of representations on modulation policy, in particular following the Policy Commission's recommendation to increase the modulation rate in England from 2004. The varied positions taken include concern about the possible impact on farm incomes and support for the positive effect on rural development funding.
	A decision on whether or not to adjust modulation rates has yet to be taken, but will be informed by the views of a wide range of stakeholders, including the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). It will also take account of negotiations on the CAP Mid-Term Reviews.
	I have no plans to hold discussions with RICS on this issue. However, other DEFRA ministers have met with officials from RICS recently.

Committee Mandates

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the mandate of the Standing Committee on agricultural statistics is; how many times it has met over the last 12 months; what the UK representation on it is; what the annual cost of its work is to public funds; if she will list the items currently under its consideration; if she will take steps to increaseits accountability and transparency to Parliament; and if she will make a statement.

Elliot Morley: The Standing Committee on Agricultural Statistics was set up by a Council Decision (72/279/EEC) on 31 July 1972. It makes detailed decisions on implementing EU legislation as set out in each case using the delegated authority provided by the EU "Comitology" process.
	Together with Member States, the Commission is currently conducting a review to bring existing legislation on the conduct of comitology committees into line with Council Decision 1999/468/EC, to "simplify the requirements for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission". As an obligation to this Decision, the Commission undertook to publish an annual report on the working of committees. The first report was deposited in the Libraries of both Houses on 26 February 2002 (Com (2001) 783 Final).
	The Standing Committee on Agricultural Statistics includes representatives from all member states and is chaired by the Commission. Separate meetings are set up for each subject normally linked to the appropriate working group or meeting of officials. The appropriate statisticians from the UK departments attend.
	There have been 2 Standing Committee meetings this year. The forthcoming items for decision will include the definition and deadlines for statistics in the forthcoming 2005 EU Structure Survey; the development initiatives on the "Improving Community Agricultural Statistics Programme"; the 2003 survey of ground points across the EU and the rules of procedure of the Standing Committee.
	The work on Agricultural Statistics is subject to the Direction of the European Parliament, Council, the Statistical Programme Committee meeting of heads of each National Statistical Services and the Agricultural Statistics Committee Meeting.
	It is not possible to separately identify the specific annual cost of the Committee's work to public funds without incurring disproportionate costs.
	New or significant changes to EU legislation are already subject to Parliamentary Scrutiny. We provide information on agricultural statistics work in National Statistics reports and plans, which are published, on the Internet.

Energy

Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  what powers she has to impose Agenda 21, community renewable energy, and alternative energy strategies on local authorities; and what penalties may be exacted from local authorities which fail to produce such strategies in comformity with her guidance;
	(2)  what requirements are placed on (a) local authorities and (b) energy providers with regard to Agenda 21, community renewable energy, and alternative energy strategies.

Michael Meacher: holding answer 22 July 2002
	Part I of the Local Government Act 2000 placed a duty on English local authorities to prepare a community strategy. The delivery of improved long term economic, social and environmental quality of life, contributing to the achievement of sustainable development in the UK, lies at the heart of community strategies; indeed community strategies are required, by law, to promote sustainable development. The Government believes community strategies will promote the mainstreaming of sustainable development across local authorities' functions. Where they have effective and holistic Local Agenda 21 strategies, there may be good reasons for local authorities to continue to implement LA21. However, the Government feels that, in the long term, LA21 strategies will effectively be subsumed by community strategies. Whilst there are no requirements placed on local authorities to produce specific community renewable energy or alternative energy strategies, energy use, as an important element of sustainable development, can be considered as part of the community strategy process.
	For energy providers, the Renewables Obligation under the Utilities Act 2000 requires all licensed electricity suppliers in Great Britain to supply a specified and growing proportion of their supplies from renewable energy in order to meet the Government's target that 10 per cent. of electricity sales will come from renewable sources by 2010.

Live Animal Exports

Gwyn Prosser: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps she plans to take to encourage (a) the sheep farming industry to replace live animal exports with the export of meat and carcasses, (b) the public to purchase domestically produced rather than imported lamb and (c) retailers to market UK-produced light lambs while paying a price to farmers which properly reflects the production costs.

Elliot Morley: Through its Industry Forum Adaptation Scheme, the Government is helping to fund work being undertaken by the Red Meat Industry Forum to improve the competitiveness of the red meat industry. Over the three financial years ending in 2005, a contribution of £1.52 million has been committed to match industry funding of £1.7 million on benchmarking, analysis of the supply chain and masterclasses. The Forum is also pursuing other initiatives in its ten point action plan, which was launched in March this year. Work of the Forum is being led by the Meat and Livestock Commission, which as part of its remit undertakes promotional support for the benefit of sheep producers. Many marketing issues, including the export of sheep for slaughter, involve commercial decisions in which the Government only has a limited role. In encouraging change the Government welcomes the work of the Forum and other industry initiatives to build partnership and trust in the supply chain.

Climate Change

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what regional climate change scenarios have been modelled by her Department in the last five years; and if she will make a statement.

Michael Meacher: holding answer 22 July 2002
	In April 2002, the Department launched the 2002 UK Climate Change Scenarios. The Department funded the development of these scenarios to support the UK Climate Impacts Programme, the purpose of which is to help public and private sector organisations assess the impact of climate change on their sectors and plan ways of adapting to its consequences. The new scenarios were produced using a regional climate change model and represent a significant step forward in our understanding of possible consequences of climate change for different parts of the UK. They replace an earlier set of scenarios funded by the Department and published in 1998.
	The Department is also funding the application of regional climate change models in developing countries to improve our collective understanding of the effects of climate change, for example through projects with India, China and South Africa.
	Additionally, we currently fund (with the Department for International Development) work at the Hadley Centre on a portable Regional Climate Change Model (PRECIS) which will enable developing countries to carry out their own assessments of how climate change will affect them.

Information Campaigns

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much her Department spent on information literature, advertising and campaign material in financial year 2001–02; if she will list the campaigns that spent over £250,000; and if she will make a statement.

Elliot Morley: holding answer 22 July 2002
	DEFRA was established during the 1st quarter of financial year 2001–02. The Department's centralised publicity expenditure is not recorded in the format requested. Our records show a total expenditure for publicity of £6,640,161.00 as at 31 March 2002.
	Due to the effects of the Foot and Mouth Disease outbreak last year, customary publicity and exhibitions activities were deferred or cancelled. DEFRA centralised publicity activities focused on poster campaigns, events, shows and direct information literature mailings.
	The "Your Countryside You're Welcome" campaign was the only one for which expenditure exceeded £250,000.

Special Advisers

Andrew Tyrie: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the (a) dates, (b) location and (c) sources were of attributable (i) articles, interviews or contributions for the media, books or other journals and (ii) speeches or presentations made in the public domain, by departmental special advisers since March 2001; who in her Department authorised the activity; and on what date this activity was recorded with the departmental Head of Information.

Elliot Morley: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to him by my right hon. Friend (the Prime Minister), on 24 July, Official Report, column 1373W.

Rare Wildlife Trade

Jimmy Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what penalties are available for someone caught dealing in the rare wildlife trade; and what plans she has to increase penalties.

Michael Meacher: People found guilty of trading in wildlife specimens protected by the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 can be fined up to £5,000 and/or imprisoned for up to six months. These higher penalties were introduced by the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 and there are no plans to increase them further.
	Offences under the Control of Trade in Endangered Species (Enforcement) Regulations 1997 (COTES) are currently punishable by a fine of up to £5,000 and/or up to three months imprisonment if tried in a Magistrates' Court, and an unlimited fine and/or up to two years imprisonment at Crown Court. These penalties are being considered as part of the current review of the COTES Regulations.

Endangered Species

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what progress has been made with the review on legislation covering the trafficking of endangered species.

Michael Meacher: holding answer 24 July 2002
	A pre-consultation paper outlining the Government's initial proposals for the review of the Control of Trade in Endangered Species (Enforcement) Regulations 1997 was sent to all the main stakeholder organisations on 18 July. We have asked for comments by 30 August 2002.

Endangered Species

Jimmy Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many types of animals in the UK are on the endangered species list; and what measures she is taking to increase their numbers.

Michael Meacher: My scientific advisors on wildlife issues, the Joint Nature Conservation Committee, have advised that there are approximately 1785 invetebrate, two amphibian, two reptile, six bird and one mammal species which are endangered. In 1995 the UK Biodiversity Action Plan was published and more recently a significant number of specific Action Plans have been finalised. These are targeted at the conservation needs of rare species and habitats and are being implemented through broad partnerships of government, statutory conservation agencies and the voluntary sector. The Biodiversity Action Plans encourage positive actions for rare species at a range of scales, from national to local, and by a range of organisations. Monitoring will provide feedback on the efficacy of the implementation of the plans.

Hendon Sewage Treatment Works

Chris Mullin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on the reasons for the delay in publishing the inspectors report on the Hendon Sewage Treatment works; and when she expects to publish it.

Michael Meacher: The Inspector's report following the inquiry on the Hendon Sewage Treatment Works (and the Whitburn Storm Sewage Pumping Station) is a comprehensive document containing a large amount of data of both a technical and general nature. Full and detailed consideration has inevitably taken some time, but I expect the Secretary of State's decision to be published together with the Inspector's report very shortly.

Light Pollution

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make it her policy to introduce anti-light-pollution legislation; and if she will make a statement.

Michael Meacher: Light is excluded from the statutory nuisance regime of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. During the debate of the associated bill in the House of Lords, floodlighting as a statutory nuisance was rejected on the basis of the low incidence of reported problems, and the perceived looseness of the proposed term "floodlighting". However I recognise that intrusion from security lighting has become a growing problem, and in view of this I will consider what measures may be used to address this issue.
	Currently where there is a proposal for which a planning application is required, the local planning authority has the power to control many sorts of lighting installation by imposing planning conditions. In this situation, the authority can refuse permission, or grant permission with conditions which could specify in detail what sort of external light installations would be allowed. In any other circumstances, since the courts have ruled that emitting light does not of itself constitute development, the matter is outside planning controls.
	I understand that the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has no plans to amend planning legislation in this area. Instead, this Government continues to publicise and to recommend the advice given in "Lighting in the Countryside: Towards good practice", which is available on our website at: http://www.planning. odpm.gov.uk/litc/index.htm This publication, which is also relevant to those in towns and cities, indicates a way forward which we believe is preferable to further regulation.

Waste Collection

Clive Efford: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans she has to charge individual households for waste collection; and if she will make a statement.

Michael Meacher: The Performance and Innovation Unit, now the Strategy Unit, are conducting a wide ranging review of waste strategy which is due to report in the autumn. Variable household charging is an issue which falls within the scope of that work and PIU have invited views on the issue on its website. DEFRA Ministers and the Government as a whole are keen for the review to consider all the possible options for delivering Government objectives on waste.

Johannesburg Summit on Sustainable Development

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the final agenda is for the Johannesburg Summit on Sustainable Development.

Michael Meacher: The Agenda is not yet fully agreed. We strongly support the priority areas of poverty eradication and the sectoral themes of water, energy, health, agriculture and biodiversity identified by the UN Secretary-General. The developed world must also take concrete steps towards sustainable development by actions to improve our own use of resources. We are also committed to sustainable development in developing countries as witnessed by the increasing proportion of the UK's gross national income devoted to international aid, which will rise to 0.4 per cent. by 2005–06, and through taking forward the important commitments to fair trade, better market access and phasing out of agricultural subsidies and reduction of trade-distorting domestic support as made at Doha.

Rare Wildlife Trade

Jimmy Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what measures are in place to ensure that rare wildlife in the UK is protected.

Michael Meacher: The UK has a broad framework of measures to ensure that rare wildlife in the UK is protected. This includes legislative protection for certain species, where such protection is necessary to address the causes of population decline, as well as a range of wider environmental policies. Of particular importance is the UK's national response to the Convention on Biological Diversity. The UK Biodiversity Action Plan was published in 1995 and more recently a significant number of specific Action Plans have been finalised, including 436 biodiversity, 391 species and 45 habitat related action plans. These are targeted at the conservation needs of rare species and of habitats and are being implemented through broad partnerships of government, statutory conservation agencies and the voluntary sector. The Biodiversity Action Plans encourage positive actions for rare species at a range of scales, from national to local, and by a range of organisations. Monitoring will provide feedback on the efficacy of the implementation of the plans.

CAP Reform

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent consultations she has had with organisations representing Scottish farmers regarding CAP reform.

Elliot Morley: DEFRA has put in place mechanisms to consult a wide range of UK and English bodies on the Commission's Communication on the Mid-Term Review of the CAP. Consulting the industry in Scotland is a matter for the Scottish Executive, with whom DEFRA has ongoing discussions on the Mid-Term Review.

Overseas Contracts

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what contracts her Department has recently awarded to (a) TNO (Netherlands), (b) IAV (Germany), (c) AVL (Austria), (d) FEV (Germany) and (e) IKA (Germany).

Michael Meacher: holding answer 23 July 2002
	No contracts have recently been awarded by my Department to any of (a) TNO (Netherlands), (b) IAV (Germany), (c) AVL (Austria), (d) FEV (Germany) and (e) IKA (Germany).

Composting

Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many in vessel composting sites are licensed in the UK.

Michael Meacher: In vessel composting is not at present a term that is defined in statute and so records do not separately identify whether composting sites could or could not be termed as in vessel operations. Environment Agency records indicate that there are 68 licensed composting sites and some 630 smaller sites registered as exempt.

Brownfield Sites

Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the regional targets are for local authorities in Yorkshire and the Humber for the construction of new dwellings on brownfield land; and what progress the local authorities are making towards these targets.

Tony McNulty: RPG12 published in October 2001 sets a brownfield target for housing development of 60 per cent. for the Yorkshire and Humber region as a whole. RPG12 also sets out provisional brownfield targets for strategic planning areas and requires local planning authorities to review these in the course of preparing their development plans following detailed studies into brownfield opportunities. The provisional targets are highest for urban areas such as Sheffield (80 per cent.) and Leeds (66 per cent.) and lower for more rural areas such as North Yorkshire (53 per cent.).
	Statistics published in June by the Government showed that in 2000, 57 per cent. of houses built in Yorkshire and the Humber were on brownfield sites. Up to date Information is not currently available for all local authority area in the region. Information supplied by individual local authorties to the Yorkshire and Humber Assembly shows that Sheffield (82 per cent.) and Leeds (74 per cent.) both exceeded their provisional targets in 2001. In North Yorkshire, Harrogate achieved 69 per cent. whilst the more rural district of Richmondshire achieved 32 per cent.

EU Environmental Liability Directive

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans she has for a public fund to help public authorities deal with the remedying of damage on orphan sites under the EU Environmental Liability Directive.

Michael Meacher: holding answer 23 July 2002
	Under the draft Directive, where the party responsible for environmental damage cannot be found, or has insufficient means to pay the costs of remediation, the responsibility for remediative action would fall to the Competent Authority.
	The Government's public consultation on the Commission's proposal, which ended on 24 May 2002, covered the provisions relating to orphan sites. Careful consideration is being given to its detailed implications for the UK and no decisions have yet been taken.

Hydrogen Fuel Cell Technology

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what funding her Department is providing for development of hydrogen fuel cell technology.

Michael Meacher: holding answer 23 July 2002
	I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 23 July 2002, by my hon. Friend the Minister for Energy and Industry (Mr. Wilson), Official Report, column 950–951W.

Hydrogen Fuel Cell Technology

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment her Department has made of the time horizons for the likely impact of hydrogen fuel cell technology on road vehicles.

Michael Meacher: holding answer 23 July 2002
	I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 23 July 2002, by my hon. Friend the Minister for Energy and Industry (Mr. Wilson), Official Report, column 950–951W.

Overseas Contracts

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what her Department's policy is on providing collaboration funding for development of fuel reduction technology with British companies; and whether it is the policy of her Department to seek tenders for other European companies before awarding such funding.

Michael Meacher: holding answer 23 July 2002
	I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 23 July 2002, by my hon. Friend the Minister for Energy and Industry (Mr. Wilson), Official Report, column 950–951W.

Public Awareness

Andrew Stunell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to her answer of 3 July 2002, Official Report, column 381W, if she will place copies of the surveys of public awareness and attitudes in the Library.

Michael Meacher: holding answer 24 July 2002
	I have arranged for a paper to be placed in the Library of the House, outlining the development of the "Are You Doing Your Bit?" campaign and including evaluations of its effects on public awareness.

Leakage Targets

Andrew Bennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many water undertakings have achieved the leakage targets set by the Deputy Prime Minister in 1997.

Michael Meacher: Following the Water Summit in 1997, Ofwat has set each water company an annual leakage target to progressively reduce leakage to its economic level by 2003. This is defined as the level at which the costs to make further reductions in leakage are greater than the costs of supplying additional water from its sources. On 25 July, Ofwat published details of company performance against their targets for 2001–02. Of the twenty-one companies set targets, nineteen met them and are now at or on course to reach their Economic Level of Leakage by 2003. Ofwat considers that the two that did not will recover their positions by 2002–03. Thames Water was subject to special measures rather than being set a volumetric target in 2001–02, due to its unsatisfactory performance in managing leakage. The company's performance in this respect continues to be deficient. Ofwat is taking a number of increased measures to ensure that Thames Water brings its leakage under control by 2003–04, including the setting of local leakage targets for 2002–03.

EU Committees

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the answer of 4 July 2002, Official Report, column 607W, when members of the Scottish Executive have attended meetings of the EU Committee on agricultural structures and rural development; and if she will make a statement.

Alun Michael: Devolved Administrations attend meetings of the EU Committee on agricultural structures and rural development where they consider the agenda to contain items of sufficient interest. Scottish Executive representatives attended in December to hear of the Commission's revised reporting requirements, in February when its annual modification to the Scottish Rural Development Programme was considered, and in July to look at proposed simplification of the Rural Development Regulation.
	Our approach is one of teamwork in which we seek to ensure that there is an agreed UK line on issues covered by the Commission committees, taking into account devolved administration views in accordance with the Memorandum of Understanding between the UK Government and the Devolved Administrations. In particular, where the rural development programmes of the Scottish Executive or the other devolved administrations are being dealt with by the Committee, we would normally expect representatives from the relevant administration to speak on behalf of the UK.

Badger Testing

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps will be taken to compensate land owners for damage done by unidentified people in connection with field trials involving badger testing.

Elliot Morley: As part of its voluntary agreement with farmers participating in the randomised badger culling trial, DEFRA has a signed commitment to pay reasonable compensation for damage to crops and property directly caused by operations carried out, and measures taken under the agreement. Claims arising out of damage caused by third parties are considered on a case by case basis and any payment is made on an ex-gratia basis.
	In practice the principal target of anti-trial protest has been Departmental property, including traps and vehicles, and field staff. Police support for trial operations is extensive and acts as a deterrent against damage to landowners' property.

Badger Testing

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what precautions badger field trials testers are taking to avoid being followed on to test sites.

Elliot Morley: All field staff receive instruction on procedures designed to reduce the personal risk associated with carrying out work on the badger culling field trial. This covers the risk of being followed by field trial protestors to field locations, to the office or to their homes.

"Philomena"

Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what discussions she intends to have with her French counterpart over the recent attack on the British boat "Philomena," carried out in international waters by French fishermen; and if she will make a statement.

Elliot Morley: Following the incident within French fishery limits involving the Philomena over the weekend of 20/21 July, officials have been in contact with the French authorities and the representative association for the vessel. There has since been a meeting of UK and French fishermen's representatives and arrangements have been made for improved communication between the parties involved.

Farming Support

Roy Beggs: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what provision there is to provide an aid package to support UK farmers whose pasture lands have become water-logged or been destroyed by persistent wet weather.

Elliot Morley: There is no routine provision to compensate farmers for the effects of bad weather. In exceptional circumstances, a Member State may apply to the European Commission to make special payments from national resources.

EU Legislation

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many new pieces of legislation originating in the European Union were implemented by her Department in each of the last three years; and if she will make a statement.

Elliot Morley: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Buckinghamshire (Mr. John Bercow) on 10 June 2002, Official Report, column 935W.

Species (Population Levels)

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent studies have been carried out into the number of (a) rabbits, (b) hares, (c) foxes, (d) grey crows, (e) magpies, (f) otters, (g) feral mink and (h) jays in England; and what trends have been detected in the population levels of each species.

Michael Meacher: The Department is aware of a number of studies of the populations of mammals and birds in England. The most recent comprehensive estimates of rabbit, hare, fox, otter and mink populations were published by the Joint Nature Conservation Committee in A Review of British Mammals: population estimates and conservation status of British Mammals other than cetaceans (1995).
	Estimates indicate that rabbit populations are increasing at around 1–2 per cent. each year. Brown hare populations are probably in continuing decline. Mountain hare populations are thought to be stable but, as expected, very localised. Fox populations appear to be stable in rural areas and increasing in urban areas. The otter is benefiting from reintroductions to the wild and is continuing to spread and increase. American mink numbers may be declining in some areas as a result of the spread of otters.
	The British Trust for Ornithology conducts surveys of bird numbers in Britain. A 1988–91 survey estimated 590,000 magpie territories and 160,000 jay territories in Britain. Magpie numbers are estimated to have increased by a mean rate of 4–5 per cent. a year between 1966 and 1986 and to have stabilised thereafter. Jay populations have tended to increase on farmland and to decrease in woodland since the survey and overall, the population remained relatively stable or increased slightly up to 1995.
	Grey or hooded crows are not regular breeders in England, although the picture is complicated by the existence of hybrids with the carrion crow.

Waste Disposal

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what new arrangements there are to deal with the disposal in the United Kingdom of (a) refrigerators and (b) tyres; and if she will make a statement.

Michael Meacher: I have already announced special grant funding of an extra £40 million for local authorities for this year. This is in addition to the £6 million already allocated for the last financial year. Additional help for future years was included in the Spending Review announced on 15 July.
	The funding will enable local authorities to make full use of treatment facilities now up and running in the UK. Five "fridge eating" sites have been operating for a number of weeks. Two are due to come on line in August, and a further three later this year.
	Under a voluntary, industry-led approach, the UK traditionally recovers value from around 70 per cent. of the tyres disposed of each year, although this dipped in 2000 due to the closure of a major tyre reprocessing facility. Since then, significant new tyre reprocessing capacity has been developed.
	As well as having sufficient tyre reprocessing capacity, it will be important that the framework supporting the tyre landfill ban promotes responsible tyre disposal and recovery. Earlier this year, DTI issued a discussion document on used tyre issues which examined a possible statutory producer responsibility model. We are currently considering next steps in the light of the responses received.

Waste Disposal

Andrew Hunter: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  what assessment she has made of mechanical biological treatment techniques for waste disposal used in other European countries;
	(2)  if she will take measures to promote the use of mechanical biological treatment techniques in waste disposal in the United Kingdom; and if she will make a statement;
	(3)  what assessment she has made of the mechanical biological treatment practices of Island Waste Services.

Michael Meacher: Mechanical biological treatment is used to manage the residue remaining after the recyclables have been removed from municipal waste. It employs conventional, proven techniques to remove any remaining recyclables and to stabilise the organic content by composting or anaerobic digestion. This material can then be landfilled or used as a fuel for energy recovery. The process is widely used in Germany and Italy and also in Austria and the Netherlands.
	MBT is specifically designed to complement waste management strategies that are focussed on material recovery through recycling and composting by providing a flexible way of dealing with the residue. This type of treatment can assist in reaching the targets for the reduction of biodegradable municipal waste disposed of to landfill as set out in the Landfill Directive.
	A bid by Shanks that includes mechanical biological treatment recently won preferred bidder status for a 25 year waste disposal contract with East London Waste Authority. Shanks will be using Italian technology under licence.
	My understanding is that Island Waste Services produces a fuel from the residual municipal solid waste after material recovery including separate composting of green waste. The treatment of the fuel is solely by mechanical means, to achieve size reduction, without any element of biological treatment.

Waste Disposal

Andrew Hunter: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  if she will take further measures to increase the amount of household waste which is recycled; and if she will make a statement;
	(2)  if she will take measures to achieve greater uniformity of waste disposal policy and practices by local authorities; and if she will make a statement.

Michael Meacher: The Government already has a number of measures in place that will increase the future amount of household waste which is recycled. These measures include setting statutory performance standards for the percentage of waste that local authorities must recycle by 2003–04 and 2005–06, and additional financial support to help local authorities deliver these standards.
	The standards we have set for local authorities take account of the performance that the authorities were reporting at the time. As a result, whilst all authorities are required to improve, there are variations in the percentages that authorities must deliver.
	Our ambitions on waste disposal extend well beyond 2005–06 and we will seek continuous improvement in our recycling rates. We will consider longer-term recycling standards for individual local authorities in the light of experience and any technological developments. As a part of that consideration, we will take a view on the demands for improvement we place on those who are currently lower and higher performing authorities.
	Generally, we consider local authorities are best placed to decide locally how best to meet existing standards, taking account of the nature of the local waste stream and issues such as the type of housing in their area. We have no plans for centrally imposing greater uniformity in the way local authorities collect and dispose of waste.
	In November the Secretary of State announced that the Government's Strategy Unit would be carrying out a study on waste strategy. This study is assessing what extra instruments, changes to targets or regulations, and/or additional funding may be required to ensure that the strategy is effectively delivered and that we are able to develop more sustainable waste management. The Strategy Unit are due to report later in the year and we will make final decisions on future resources, and consider other policy measures, when the conclusions of the study are known.

Waste Disposal

Andrew Hunter: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the method of continuous sampling of dioxin emissions from waste disposal incinerators.

Michael Meacher: The Environment Agency is undertaking research into continuous dioxin sampling which includes market and literature searches, laboratory testing, and field trials, comparing "continuous" samplers with discontinuous methods. The research will establish which, if any, of the commercially available equipment can perform reliably and accurately, and inform the preparation of performance standards for these monitoring systems. The Agency anticipates that the research will be completed in Spring 2003.

Waste Disposal

Paddy Tipping: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what financial resources she has made available to local authorities in 2002–03 to help with the storage and disposal of refrigerators; and how much each local authority has been allocated.

Michael Meacher: £6 million was allocated to local authorities for the extra costs they faced from 1 January to end March this year as a result of the disposal of refrigerators regulations. This money was added to local authorities' general grant for the current financial year and distributed using standard spending assessments. It is not possible to provide a meaningful allocation for each authority.
	I announced on 18 July special grant funding of an extra £40 million for local authorities for this year. This is in addition to the £6 million already allocated for the last financial year.

Fuel Consumption

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of the intelligent motor generator technology developed by Ricardo in reducing fuel consumption in road vehicles.

Michael Meacher: holding answer 24 July 2002
	I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under Secretary to Transport (Mr. Jamieson) on 24 July, Official Report, column 1249W.

Are You Doing Your Bit? Campaign

Andrew Stunell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the level of funding for the Are You Doing Your Bit? campaign was in each year since 1998; what funds have been made available to support this campaign in (a) this and (b) the next three years; and if she will make a statement.

Andrew Stunell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what measures she is taking to enhance the effectiveness of the Are You Doing Your Bit? campaign; and if she will make a statement.

Michael Meacher: Expenditure on the "Are you doing your bit?" campaign, covering both environmental and transport topics, was £3.4 million in 1998–99, £7.0 million in 1999– 2000 and £9.3 million in 2000–01. In 2001–02 most of the campaign's resources were reallocated to rural support, during the outbreak of foot and mouth disease, and expenditure was £0.6 million. The Department is currently reviewing the effectiveness of public awareness activities in this area and in the meantime, in the current financial year, is making only minimal financial commitments on the "Are You Doing You Bit?" campaign. The distribution of budgets for public awareness activities for the following three financial years has yet to be decided, in the light of the overall figures for the Department settled in this year's Spending Review.

Biotechnology Research

Alan Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what biotechnology research projects in (a) agriculture and (b) biomedics have been supported by the Department; and what level of public investment has gone into them in each of the last three years.

Michael Meacher: The biotechnology research projects funded by the Department in the last 3 years in (a) Agriculture are available in the Library of the House. The total costs over this period are summarised in the table below:
	
		
			  1999–2000 (£millions)* 2000–01 (£millions)* 2001–02 (£millions) 2002–03 (£millions)*** 
		
		
			 GM and Non-GM biotechnology 23.4 27 27.3 24 
			 Research to underpin safety assessment of GMOs in the environment 1.9 2.4** 2.4** 2.9** 
			 Total spend on Biotechnology 25.3 29.4 29.7 26.9 
		
	
	* Figures include relevant DETR and MAFF programmes.
	** Figures exclude food-related risk assessment projects, which were transferred to the Food Standards Agency.
	*** All figures are provisional.
	(b) Biomedics—The Department does not support research in this area. Biotechnology is defined as the application of biological organisms, systems and processes to manufacturing and service industries. This definition covers genetic modification (GM) research but goes much wider to include, among other techniques, fused cell techniques, protein engineering, fermentation and cell culture techniques, the production of vaccines and monoclonal antibodies.

Plastic Recyling Facilities

Adrian Flook: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on the availability of plastic recyling facilities in (a) the South West and (b) Somerset.

Michael Meacher: The Department does not keep a central record of recycling facilities. However, there are a number of internet sites that can search for your nearest recycling facility.
	I understand from one of the local authorities in the area that two local authorities in Somerset collect plastic bottles for recycling—Taunton Deane Borough Council and South Somerset District Council. In addition, 4 Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRC) run by the county also collect plastic bottles.
	I also understand that the operating contracts for 13 of the HWRC's are due to be renegotiated shortly. I understand that the new contracts will make a stronger commitment to recycling in Somerset and many sites will introduce plastic collection.

Common Agricultural Policy

Jimmy Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent proposals he has put to European colleagues for the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy.

Elliot Morley: On 10 July, the European Commission published its proposals for reform of the Common Agricultural Policy. These form a good basis for discussion, and in many ways respond to UK calls that significant reform of the CAP is required. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State set out the UK's initial response to the proposals at the 15 July EU Agriculture Council. As she explained, the Government believes that the general thrust of the proposals of further market reform, decoupling of direct payments from production, and reinforcement of the rural development regulation is the right one. But in a number of key areas we consider that the proposals do not go far enough and do not adequately respond to the challenges ahead. In particular, the Commission's proposals on modulation would simply recycle money within the CAP while we would like to have seen a proposal which reduced subsidies while delivering real budgetary savings.

Departmental Jobs

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many jobs under the remit of her Department in (a) the core department, (b) non-departmental public bodies, (c) executive agencies and (d) independent statutory bodies, organisations and bodies financially sponsored by her Department and other such organisations are located in (i) Scotland, (ii) England, excluding Greater London, (iii) Greater London, (iv) Wales, (v) Northern Ireland and (vi) overseas, broken down by (A) whole-time equivalent jobs and (B) the percentage per individual department, body or organisation.

Elliot Morley: holding answer 24 July 2002
	The table below shows the number of staff in the former MAFF and its executive agencies located in the regions specified as at 1 April 2001, the latest date for which published data is available. The requested information on non-departmental public bodies and other independent statutory bodies is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
	
		
			 ScotlandLondonRest of EnglandWalesNorthern IrelandOverseas 
			 Dept/Body/ Organisation No. (FTE) per cent. No. (FTE) per cent. No. (FTE) per cent. No. (FTE) per cent. No. (FTE) per cent. No. (FTE) per cent. Total (FTE) 
		
		
			 MAFF (a) 76 1 1943 28 4919 70 117 2 0 0 6 0 7061 
			 CEFAS (c) 0 0 0 0 480 100 0 0 0 0 0 0 480 
			 CSL (c) 0 0 0 0 580 100 0 0 0 0 0 0 580 
			 FRCA (c) 0 0 23 3 645 96 4 1 0 0 0 0 672 
			 PSD (c) 0 0 1 1 181 99 0 0 0 0 0 0 182 
			 VLA (c) 38 3 772 68 296 26 29 3 0 0 0 0 1135 
			 VMD (c) 0 0 109 100 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 109 
		
	
	Key:
	(a) Core department (excluding agencies)
	(c) Executive agencies

EU Agriculture Council

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the answer of 17 July 2002, Official Report, column 309W, which Scottish Executive Minister she met on 15 July in Brussels prior to the EU Agriculture Council meeting.

Elliot Morley: holding answer 24 July 2002
	On this occasion the Scottish Minister for Environment and Rural Affairs was represented by an official.

Pesticides

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent research her Department has carried out to determine the level of pesticide residues in food within the UK; what checks are carried out on imported foods to determine the level of pesticide residues; and what plans she has to introduce statutory targets to reduce the use of pesticides in food production.

Elliot Morley: The Government conducts a wide-ranging annual surveillance programme for pesticide residues in food including imported food. Some 4,000 samples are analysed annually and the programme generates results for over 100,000 pesticide/commodity food combinations. All the results are published on a website: www.pesticides.gov.uk/committees/PRC/prc.htm
	The Maximum Residue Levels regulations apply equally to imports. Additionally, the general provisions of the Food Safety Act 1990 apply at all times. The food safety requirements are that food must not have been rendered injurious to health; be unfit; or be so contaminated—whether by extraneous matter or otherwise—that it would be unreasonable to expect it to be sold in that state. These legislative controls are backed up by the monitoring programme described above. Around half of the samples tested are of imported food.
	The Government has no plans to introduce statutory targets to reduce the use of pesticides in food production

Farm Waste

Win Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when she expects to publish her consultation paper on farm waste.

Michael Meacher: holding answer 24 July 2002
	We are preparing the Regulations necessary to apply the provisions of the Waste Framework Directive to those types of agricultural waste which are not excluded from control under Article 2. A Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) is also being prepared. On completion, the draft Regulations and RIA will be issued for consultation with the farming industry and other interested groups. A firm date for publication of the consultation paper has not yet been set but our aim is to publish it in the Autumn. I will ensure that a copy of the consultation paper is sent to the hon. Member when it is issued.

Anglo-Scottish Ministerial Meetings

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many formal and official inter-ministerial meetings her Department has held with the Scottish Executive since May 1999, broken down by (a) Scottish Executive department, (b) subject and (c) date.

Elliot Morley: holding answer 24 July 2002
	Information is not available in the form requested. Ministers from the Department have frequent meetings with Ministers from the Scottish Executive, both formal and informal, covering a broad range of topics.

Illegal Meat Products

Adrian Flook: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what outbreaks of disease in animals in Somerset have been linked to the import of illegal meat products in the past five years.

Elliot Morley: There have been no outbreaks of exotic notifiable disease in Somerset in the last five years other than Foot and Mouth Disease in 2001. It is not possible to determine the exact route by which that virus entered the country.

Trees

Adrian Flook: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps (a) have been taken and (b) are planned by her Department to increase the number of trees planted in the South West; and if she will make a statement.

Elliot Morley: With support from the Woodland Grant Scheme and Farm Woodland Premium Scheme, private woodland owners in the South West created some 1,300 hectares of woodland last year. This is nearly double the amount planted five years ago. We have also provided extra support in certain parts of the South West through initiatives such as the Community Forest Premium and Challenge Schemes for new native woodland in National Parks and for reversing fragmentation of woodlands. As to the future, we are currently reviewing our grant schemes with a view to achieving, among other things, improved targeting of support for new woodland in accordance with the priorities in our England Forestry Strategy.

Standstill Rule

Adrian Flook: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent representations she has received on the 20-day standstill rule in Somerset.

Elliot Morley: Representations about the 20-day standstill have been received from industry organisations and individual farmers from many different areas.

Standstill Rule

Adrian Flook: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the practical implications of the 20-day standstill order on agricultural shows in Somerset.

Elliot Morley: The current rules already allow animals of all species to move to shows even if there is a standstill in place on their farm of origin, to move from show to show or to return to their farm of origin without triggering a 20-day standstill, provided they are individually identified and kept in approved isolation facilities for 20 days before the first show, between shows and on final return to the farm.
	I am also aware that a number of show organisers across the country have taken steps to adjust their schedules so as to work with the standstill rules.

Lundy Island

Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  if she will consult (a) hon. Members whose constituencies have fishing interests, (b) fishermen's organisations and (c) other groups before a decision is made to impose a fishing ban in the vicinity of Lundy Island;
	(2)  what evidence has been supplied to her by English Nature on the impact of imposing a fishing ban in the vicinity of Lundy Island; and what assessment of such evidence will be carried out by her officials before a decision is made.

Elliot Morley: The byelaw to implement a "No Take Zone" around Lundy Island has been proposed by Devon Sea Fisheries Committee (SFC) who are responsible for fisheries management in the area concerned. In proposing the byelaw, the SFC has taken advice from English Nature to comply with the statutory requirement in the case of byelaws proposed on marine environmental grounds. Consultation by the SFC has taken place with local fishing interests and formal public consultation will follow. This will be held in line with the statutory requirements of the Sea Fisheries (Byelaws) Regulations 1985 which require the byelaw to be advertised in publications circulating in the local district and any other publication which the Secretary of State may require.
	In confirming the byelaw, this Department will look to ensure that all statutory requirements have been met, any objections received from the publication of the byelaw have been dealt with satisfactorily by the SFC and that the byelaw will not operate in a discriminatory or inequitable way. This Department will also need European Commission approval of the byelaw.

Sea Levels

Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent evaluation her Department has carried out on the risk posed to seaside communities by rising sea levels; and if she will make a statement.

Elliot Morley: The updated National Appraisal of Assets at Risk of Flooding and Coastal Erosion in England and Wales, distributed in September 2001 by DEFRA, provided a revised comprehensive estimate of risks from flooding and coastal erosion, including a preliminary assessment of the potential change of impact associated with climate change. The risk to coastal communities was included in this assessment.
	Management of coastal risk from flooding and coastal erosion is informed through the development of Shoreline Management Plans (SMPs). The earliest of the first round of SMPs is now due for revision. Research by DEFRA to improve understanding of coastal erosion processes around the coastline of England and Wales will be made available soon to coastal authorities to assist development of the second round of SMPs. This includes guidance on the likely impact of sea level rise on coastal processes. This improved understanding will allow an assessment of the likely change of risk to coastal communities as a result of sea level rise to be made during review of the local SMP.
	DEFRA manages the UK Climate Impacts Programme (UKCIP) which reported on regional climate change impact earlier this year. Research carried out under UKCIP does not suggest that the sea level rise allowances used in the design of flood and coastal erosion management solutions needs to be changed for the time being.

Illegal Importation of Meat

Jacqui Lait: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what action Customs and Excise are taking in Scotland against the illegal importation of meat from China.

Elliot Morley: I am advised that the Food Standards Agency has issued a Food Hazard Warning to local authorities and investigations are taking place to establish the source and extent of the illegal importation of meat from China. Any illegally imported meat, and products containing illegally imported meat, are being controlled by local authorities.

Flooding

Andrew Love: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when the Environment Agency will (a) commence and (b) complete the feasibility study into the causes and relief of flooding in Salmon's Brook in the Lea Valley; and if she will make a statement.

Elliot Morley: The Environment Agency plans to commence the Salmons Brook Feasibility Study in August this year and it is expected to be complete in 12 months.

Flooding

Andrew Love: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to her answer of 10 July 2002, Official Report, column 310W, what evaluation has taken place of the effectiveness of the Environment Agency in identifying the case for investment in flood alleviation measures following the flooding of October 2000; and if she will make a statement.

Elliot Morley: The Environment Agency's medium term plans for capital works are produced on an annual basis and in both 2001 and 2002 included proposed improvement works for many conurbations affected by the Autumn 2000 flooding. Works are already in progress at some locations, including Bewdley, Shrewsbury, Malton and Norton, all of which were flooded. The Agency is still investigating the case for other works in areas affected by the 2000 floods. The Department keeps in close touch with the Agency on its plans.

Flooding

Andrew Love: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what PSAs have been set for the Environment Agency regarding (a) flood forecasting, (b) flood warning and (c) flood alleviation; and if she will make a statement.

Elliot Morley: PSAs are only set for Government Departments. However, in 1999 DEFRA's Flood Management Division developed a series of High Level Targets which require the Environment Agency to report on flood and coastal defence issues on a regular basis. A copy of these Targets was placed in the House Libraries on 23 November 1999. Documents reporting on performance against individual High Level Targets were also placed in the House Libraries on 24 May 2002

Flooding

Andrew Love: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what time scale is set for the Environment Agency to complete the investment in flood alleviation measures arising from a flooding incident; and if she will make a statement.

Elliot Morley: There is no set timescale for taking forward work associated with flood alleviation measures as this depends on the severity, duration and complexity of individual flooding events. The Environment Agency routinely investigates all incidents of flooding to determine any lessons learned, and revises its procedures accordingly as well as bringing forward flood alleviation measures if required and justified.

RSPB

Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much money by way of grants and subsidies her Department has paid to the RSPB, broken down by category, in each of the last five years.

Michael Meacher: holding answer 24 July 2002
	Direct payments made by the department, since its creation in June 2001, have amounted to £25,000 in 2001–02 and £100,000 in 2002–03 to date. The RSPB may further receive EU funding and grants indirectly from other DEFRA funded bodies. Collecting information on indirect funding and payments made prior to 2001–02 would involve disproportionate cost.

Pesticides

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent discussions she has had with representatives of the farming industry on reduction of the use of pesticides.

Elliot Morley: The Government is committed to minimising the adverse effects of pesticides. This includes the development and promotion of ways in which farmers can limit their pesticide use. In spring 2001 we invited the industry to implement the Voluntary Initiative—a package of measures aimed at reducing the environmental impact of pesticides. The Government is keeping the progress of the Voluntary Initiative under review to assess whether it is delivering real environmental benefits. DEFRA Ministers met with farming and other representatives in May to discuss progress.

Pesticides

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent representations she has had from environmental groups on pesticide residues in food.

Elliot Morley: Officials from the Pesticides Safety Directorate (PSD), an executive agency of the Department, has received correspondence from various environmental groups, including Friends of the Earth (FoE) and Pesticides Action Network UK (PAN UK), on pesticide residues in food.

Pesticides

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent discussions she has had with (a) representatives of the food retail industry and (b) consumer representatives on pesticide residues in food.

Elliot Morley: Officials from the Department meet regularly with representatives of the food retail industry and consumer representatives on pesticide residues in food, in various capacities. The Pesticide Residues Committee (PRC), which oversees the Government's pesticide residues surveillance programme, held its first open meeting last year. Various organisations attended, including representatives from both the food retail industry and consumer groups. Details of the attendees are available on the PRC's website:
	www.pesticides.gov.uk/committees/PRC/prc.htm
	Examples of organisations my officials met with in the last year are the Chilled Food Association and the Infant and Dietetic Food Association.

County and Agricultural Shows

David Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the total cost was to public funds of her Department's exhibition stands at county and agricultural shows held since 1 April.

Margaret Beckett: Our records show that as at the end of June 2002, current payments made relating to the financial year 2002–03 by DEFRA for exhibition and related stand costs incurred by attendance at county and agricultural shows totalled £695,121.

EU Advisory Committees

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the mandate of the EU Advisory Committee on food stuffs is; how many times it has met over the last 12 months; what the United Kingdom representation on it is; what the annual cost of its work is to public funds; if she will list the items under its consideration; if she will take steps to increase its accountability and transparency to Parliament; and if she will make a statement.

Hazel Blears: I have been asked to reply.
	The mandate for the Advisory Committee for Foodstuffs is set out in European Commission Decision 1980/1073/EEC. The Committee may be consulted by the Commission on any matter relating to the harmonisation of foodstuffs legislation.
	The Committee, whose term of office is three years, is composed of ten permanent members and twenty experts, and the secretariat is provided by the Commission. It represents socio-economic interest groups concerned about food safety, such as agriculture, commerce, consumers, industry and workers, and is chaired by a permanent member of one of the economic groups. The Committee has not met during the last twelve months.
	The Committee is accountable solely to the Commission which pays the travel and subsistence costs of members amounting to approximately C= 290,000 for each meeting. There are no additional costs to the United Kingdom's public funds.

Chernobyl

Ian Davidson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what regulations remain in force to deal with the impact of Chernobyl radioactive pollution; which geographical areas are affected; and if she will make a statement.

Hazel Blears: I have been asked to reply.
	The regulations which remain in force to deal with the impact of Chernobyl radioactive pollution, and the geographical areas covered, are as follows:
	For England, The Food Protection (Emergency Prohibitions) (Radioactivity in Sheep) (England) (Partial Revocation) Order 1996, S.I. 1996 No. 62, covering parts of Cumbria For Scotland, The Food Protection (Emergency Prohibitions) (Radioactivity in Sheep) (Scotland) (Partial Revocation) Order 2001, S.S.I—2001 No. 313, covering parts of East Ayrshire, East Renfrewshire and Stirling Council areas.
	For Wales, The Food Protection (Emergency Prohibitions) (Radioactivity in Sheep) (Wales) (Partial revocation) Order 1998, S.I. 1998 No. 72, covering parts of Conwy, Gwynedd and North Powys.
	Each regulation specifies the exact areas to which the controls apply.
	All restrictions were removed from Northern Ireland in April 2000.

DEFENCE

Scottish Executive

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many formal and official inter-ministerial meetings his Department has held with the Scottish Executive since May 1999, broken down by (a) Scottish Executive department, (b) subject and (c) date.

Lewis Moonie: holding answer 24 July 2002
	Information is not available in the form requested. Defence Ministers have frequent meetings with Ministers from the Scottish Executive, both formal and informal, covering a broad range of topics.

Temporary Staff

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many employees under contract from temping agencies worked in his Department; and how much was spent on temporary staff (a) as a total and (b) as a percentage of the total staffing budget in each of the last five years for which figures are available.

Lewis Moonie: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 24 May 2002, Official Report, column 614W by my right hon. Friend the Minister of State for the Armed Forces.

Special Advisers

Andrew Tyrie: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the (a) dates, (b) location and (c) sources were of attributable (i) articles, interviews or contributions for the media, books or other journals and (ii) speeches or presentations made in the public domain, by departmental special advisers since March 2001; who in his Department authorised the activity; and on what date this activity was recorded with the departmental Head of Information.

Lewis Moonie: All Special Advisers' contacts with the media, and speeches and presentations made by them, are conducted in accordance with the requirement of the Code of Conduct for Special Advisers. All Ministry of Defence civil servants, including special advisers, are expected to keep the Department's Director of Corporate Communications or delegated officer informed of contacts with the media. Details of such contacts are for internal purposes only.

Press Office

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many (a) full time equivalents were employed by his press office and (b) secondees were placed in his press office in the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

Lewis Moonie: holding answer 22 July 2002
	Details of full time personnel who worked in the Ministry of Defence central Press Office in the last five years, together with the number of established posts, is shown in the table below:
	
		
			 Financial Year Number of full time personnel Number of established posts 
		
		
			 1997–98 20 * 
			 1998–99 18 19 
			 1999–2000 18 18 
			 2000–01 33 19 
			 2001–02 28 24 
		
	
	*information no longer available
	The number of full time personnel includes those employed at any time during the Financial Year. Staff changes will cause these figures to be higher than those shown for established posts.
	No records are held on the number of secondees to the Press Office.

Code of Practice on Access to Government Information

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if applicants requesting information under the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information are sent an acknowledgement by his Department that their request has been received.

Lewis Moonie: It is Ministry of Defence policy to answer all such requests under the terms of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information whether or not it is mentioned by individual applicants. It is not general practice in the Ministry of Defence to acknowledge requests for information unless a substantive response cannot be given within 20 working days.

Code of Practice on Access to Government Information

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence to whom in his Department applicants under the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information should address their requests for information; and what the address is of this contact point.

Lewis Moonie: It is Ministry of Defence policy that all requests for information should be handled in accordance with the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information. Accordingly, there is no specific person to whom such requests need to be addressed. The MOD Internet site gives contact points for some subjects that attract frequent requests for information, an e-mail address for other enquiries and an address for the Ministerial Correspondence Unit. Our Information Leaflet "MOD and Open Government" is currently being revised to update the contact details and other information given there. In the meantime, Appendix 6 to the Lord Chancellor's Monitoring Report for 2001 gives details for the section which has the policy lead in MOD on the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.

Parliamentary Answers

Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  whether it is his policy to ensure that documents referred to in parliamentary answers are available via his Department's website;
	(2)  for how long he retains documents referred to in parliamentary answers on his Department's website.

Lewis Moonie: The Ministry of Defence aims to be as helpful as possible in responding to hon Members' questions. Where it is appropriate to refer hon Members to other documents as part of the substantive reply, this may be done by making hard copies available in the Libraries of the House, or by reference to material available on the MOD website at http://www.mod.uk. However, some documents referred to in parliamentary answers are published by organisations outside the Department and these will not necessarily be appropriate for inclusion on the Department's website. Additionally, not all documents produced by the Department are available electronically.
	If a document on the Department's website has been referred to in a parliamentary answer it will generally continue to be available there. Some information of a transitory nature—for example the operational low flying timetable—will be updated periodically, but most reports and policy papers are retained permanently without amendment. Because the structure of the Department's website changes over time, document addresses given in parliamentary answers may also change, but significant documents will almost certainly continue to be available elsewhere on the website.

Departmental Report

Alan Beith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the cost was of publishing his Department's annual report for each of the past five years.

Lewis Moonie: The Ministry of Defence meets the requirement to report past performance and future spending plans to Parliament by producing two separate documents—the Government's Expenditure Plans (published in the spring), and the Departmental Performance Report (published in the autumn).
	The costs of printing and publishing these reports are largely borne by The Stationery Office, with whom the contract for producing Command Papers is held. The Stationery Office recoups these costs on a commercial basis through sales of the Reports, including those copies purchased by the MOD for its own use. The MOD also pays for any additional printing or publication costs not covered by the contract with The Stationery Office. Where these costs are readily identifiable they are shown in the following table. The remaining data are not held centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
	
		
			  Year Government's Expenditure Plans (£) Departmental Performance Report (£) 
		
		
			 1998 - 3,700 
			 1999 - 7,100 
			 2000 - 6,803 
			 2001 4,768 12,610 
			 2002 2,020 To be published in October 
		
	
	MOD staff costs associated with producing these reports cannot be accurately assessed, and are not therefore included in the above figures.

Entertainment Costs

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list for 1997–98 and each subsequent financial year the amount spent by (a) his Department, (b) its agencies and (c) its non-departmental public bodies in respect of hotel and other similar privately provided accommodation (i) in the UK and (ii) abroad for (A) Ministers, (B) staff and (C) other persons; if he will list the proportion of this cost incurred in respect of (x) food and (y) alcohol in each case; and if he will list the average cost per hotel room or similar unit of accommodation provided in each case.

Lewis Moonie: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister on 14 February, Official Report, columns 559–560W.

Departmental Policies (Bristol, East)

Jean Corston: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will set out, with statistical information relating as directly as possible to the Bristol, East constituency, the effects on Bristol of his Department's policies and actions (a) from 5 May 1994 to 2 May 1997, (b) from 2 May 1997 to 7 May 1998, and (c) since 7 May 1998.

Lewis Moonie: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer provided by my hon. Friend the Minister of State, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister on 4 March 2002, Official Report, column 80W. Detailed information is not held centrally within the Ministry of Defence and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
	I can say though that the Bristol, East constituency contains no MOD sites. However, it does form part of the Bristol Travel To Work Area where there is a number of MOD establishments including the headquarters for the Defence Procurement Agency and the Warship Support Agency that are both based at Abbey Wood in Bristol North-West. Abbey Wood opened in 1995 with the relocation of the then Procurement Executive. Over 500 staff were recruited locally in 1995–96. Now over 5,800 people work at the site; this will rise to over 6,800 in late 2002 with the further co-location of Warship Support Agency staff. In April 1994 there were 294 Full Time Equivalent civilian posts in the Bristol Travel To Work Area, which had increased to 4,039 Full Time Equivalent civilian posts by July 2001 largely as a result of the creation of the Abbey Wood headquarters.
	Service posts are not counted by Travel To Work Area. But in July 2000 there were 87 Service posts in the Bristol Unitary Authority Area; this does not include Abbey Wood, which is in South Gloucestershire.

Professional Indemnity Insurance

James Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many contracts his Department has with consultants; what level of professional indemnity insurance is standard in contracts with small consultants; whether he can make exceptions to the level of professional indemnity insurance; and what recent discussions he has had with other Government departments about the level of professional indemnity insurance.

Lewis Moonie: holding answer 18 April 2002
	This information is not held centrally and can only be provided at disproportionate cost.
	The Ministry of Defence does not routinely impose a requirement for a standard level of professional indemnity insurance in contracts with small consultants. Most consultants will take out professional indemnity insurance with a policy value consistent with the risks associated with their business. Unless there are compelling business reasons to the contrary, MOD would not wish to interfere in this decision.
	As MOD does not routinely impose a requirement for a standard level of professional indemnity insurance, then the question of exceptions to a standard level does not usually arise. However, MOD would not wish to allow any variations in the levels of professional indemnity insurance which could distort competition or could in any other way be seen as discriminatory. Inevitably, some contracts do carry special risks and, in these cases, it may be beneficial on value for money grounds for the MOD to exclude or limit the contractor's liability. Finally, as with previous Administrations, it is not this Government's practice to provide details of discussions that form part of the process of policy development and analysis.

Munitions (Dean Hill)

Robert Key: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the estimated monthly maintenance costs to Defence Estates are from October 2003 in respect of Dean Hill Munitions Depot.

Adam Ingram: The Depot is expected to be passed to Defence Estates for disposal in April 2004. An assessment of the monthly maintenance costs to cover responsibilities under the Occupiers of Premises Act will be made nearer to this time.

Munitions (Dean Hill)

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether homes at DM Dean Hill will be offered to tenants at the 2000 price; and if surplus housing will be offered for sale at this price.

Adam Ingram: No decision has yet been made as to the value of the tenanted properties or the price at which they would be offered under the Ministry of Defence Discounted Sales to Sitting Tenants Scheme. Any surplus housing would be sold on the open market by competition.

Munitions (Dean Hill)

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the relative advantages of (a) natural temperature and humidity controlled storage of munitions and (b) above ground storage units in the case of terrorist or other hostile attack.

Adam Ingram: The Ministry of Defence carries out a continuous assessment of the likelihood and nature of threats to the security of its establishments and other assets. Existing security measures are regularly reviewed and updated to ensure that they match the results of these assessments.

Munitions (Dean Hill)

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans there are for the existing sports and social club if the closure of DM Dean Hill proceeds.

Adam Ingram: No decision has yet been made about future plans for the sports and social club.

Munitions (Dean Hill)

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what weight was given to the opinions of the customer base when deciding the future of DM Dean Hill; and which customers made representations.

Adam Ingram: In the course of conduct of the Defence Munitions Rationalisation Study (DMrs. 2) the study team consulted with all major stakeholders in the munitions business, those both internal and external to the Ministry of Defence. This included all of the MOD DLO/DPA Munitions Integrated Project Teams (i.e. the authorities with ownership responsibility for MOD munitions), RAF Strike Command and those non MOD external customers of Defence Munitions with whom Defence Munitions has partnering/contractual arrangements (BAe Systems and MBDA (Matra BAe Dynamics Alena)). No representations on the closure of the depot were made by the bodies consulted.

Air Sea Rescue

Ian Liddell-Grainger: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much was spent on air sea rescue in the UK in (a) 1999–2000, (b) 2001–01, and (c) 2001–02.

Adam Ingram: Air and sea rescue is undertaken by a large number of organisations in the UK and is conducted from a wide variety of locations utilising many different assets. The information requested is not held centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

FYR Macedonia

John Randall: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many British service personnel are serving in FYR Macedonia.

Adam Ingram: There are 35 United Kingdom service personnel presently deployed to Macedonia.
	Three UK service personnel are seconded to the Macedonian Ministry of Defence; two as Defence Advisors and one as a Training Advisor. Three UK service personnel are deployed to Macedonia as part of the British Military Advisory and Training Team supplying low-level counter-insurgency training. The remaining 29 are deployed to Macedonia to provide support to NATO and UK forces in the Balkans.

Sustainable Development

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the interdepartmental discussions on Criterion 8 of the Consolidated Criteria relating to sustainable development.

Patricia Hewitt: I have been asked to reply.
	The Government's policy on Criterion Eight of the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria remains as stated in the criteria announced by my right hon. Friend the Member for Neath on 26 October 2000, Official Report, column 199W. However, as stated by my noble Friend, Lord Sainsbury of Turville on 4 March 2002, Official Report, column 73,
	"the Government have recognised the need to consider how criterion eight . . . can most effectively be applied in assessing relevant export licence applications. The Government agree that there is a need for clearer procedures within Whitehall for reaching decisions where sustainable development is an issue."
	The Government have agreed a two-stage process for assessing the impact of relevant proposed exports on sustainable development as defined in Criterion 8. First a non-exhaustive list of countries identifies those where sustainable development is most likely to be an issue. Second, in cases involving exports to those countries, the Government will look in more detail at the possible impact of relevant proposed exports on the economy or the sustainable development of the recipient country. All Departments involved in the export licensing process have agreed guidance for officials to assist with this process. This guidance is not on the interpretation of policy, which remains as set out in the Criteria, but in the procedures developed to assist in compiling the data necessary for the Government to make decisions.
	The list of countries will reflect those destinations where the prevailing macro-economic and development conditions mean that an export is most likely to trigger concern about economic impact or sustainable development as defined in Criterion 8. Those countries eligible for concessional loans from the World Bank's International Development Association (IDA) have been chosen for these purposes as representing the world's poorest. Because the economic and development situation in these countries differs, this part of the process will identify, on a country by country basis, which ELAs the Department of Trade and Industry will pass to the Department for International Development, as well as to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and the Ministry of Defence, for more detailed assessment and advice. The Government will keep the list of countries under constant review to take account of changing circumstances. The list will be published on the DTI website. Additionally, at the request of any Government Department involved in the licensing process, any ELA may be examined for its impact on the economy or sustainable development of the recipient country as defined in Criterion 8 should that Government Department consider this appropriate in the light of the individual circumstances of that application.
	To assist in carrying out the assessment required under Criterion 8 where an ELA has been identified as requiring this further detailed assessment, the Government have devised a series of indicators. In the interests of transparency, consistency and predictability, I will outline the nature of these indicators.
	The indicators take account of both the conditions prevailing in the importing country and the potential impact of the export. They are designed to help assess whether the proposed export would seriously undermine the economy of the recipient country and whether it would seriously hamper its sustainable development as defined in Criterion 8. The indicators are: relative levels of military and social expenditure and level of military spending as a percentage of GNP; aid dependency compared with the regional average; state of public finances; balance of payments; external debt sustainability; economic and social development, i.e. GNP/capita and Human Development Index; the status of any IMF or World Bank-sponsored economic reform programme. The assessment will take into account the impact of the proposed export on the above indicators.
	Criterion 8 refers to
	"the compatibility of the arms exports with the technical and economic capacity of the recipient country, taking into account the desirability that states should achieve their legitimate needs of security and defence with the least diversion for armaments of human and economic resources".
	The Department for International Development will raise any concerns about "least diversion" by reference to the other agreed indicators.
	The cumulative impact of all arms imports to the destination country, not just exports from the UK, would be captured by the Criteria as a whole and by the above indicators.
	Sources of information will include the IMF Government Financial Statistics Yearbook, IMF Country Reports and Surveys, IMF/World Bank Annual Progress Reports on the Poverty Reduction Growth Facility and, where appropriate, completion point documents from the Highly Indebted Poor Countries Initiative. Information in the IMF's periodic publication, Recent Economic Developments and the World Bank's World Development Indicators as well as OECD statistics, data and country summaries may also be drawn on.
	Export licensing decisions rest with the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, taking account of both advice from other Departments, and whether to issue or refuse a licence would be consistent with the Consolidated Criteria as a whole. The Department for International Development as the lead Department for advice on sustainable development issues, will invariably provide advice, although other Departments may also provide advice.
	The F680 process, through which the Government provide advice to industry on proposals for marketing or promoting products overseas, does not constitute an export licence. Neither is the existence or otherwise of an F680 approval a factor which is taken into account in the licensing decision. However, the Government have also decided to make procedural changes to the F680 process. Rather than as previously, commenting through FCO, the Department for International Development will be invited formally to comment directly on F680 applications.

Arms Transfers

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans he has to establish a register of UK and EU arms brokers; and if he will oblige UK arms brokering and shipping agents to obtain licences for arms transfers even when the arms do not touch UK or EU territory.

Nigel Griffiths: I have been asked to reply.
	The Export Control Act 2002 will give the Government new powers allowing for controls to be imposed on arms trafficking and brokering.
	The Government have proposed to set these powers to establish controls on the supply and delivery, and on acts calculated to promote the supply or delivery, of controlled goods from any overseas country to any arms-embargoed destination, and of long-range missiles and equipment whose export the Government had already banned because of evidence of its use in torture from any overseas country to any other country. These controls will apply where any part of the activities takes place in the United Kingdom and to activities by United Kingdom persons anywhere.
	The Government have also proposed to use the new powers in the Export Control Act to establish controls on various activities connected to trade in military equipment whose export is already subject to control. The activities that will be subject to control include acquisition or disposal of goods. They also include arranging a contract for the acquisition or disposal of goods, or doing any act calculated to promote the arranging of such a contract in return for a fee. The controls will apply where any part of the activities takes place in the United Kingdom. The controls will not apply to a person whose sole involvement in the movement of goods is to provide transportation, finance, insurance or general advertising or promotional services.
	The Government propose to establish a register of information on all those applying for licences under the Export Control Act, regardless of nationality, both for exports and for the activities described above, thus creating a database available to be used for licensing and enforcement purposes.

Spare Military Equipment

Jimmy Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans he has to sell reserve spare military equipment; and what measures are in place to monitor the availability of equipment for UK forces.

Lewis Moonie: When the Ministry of Defence updates its equipment, surplus and obsolete items are sold on a Government-to-Government basis, by competitive tender, public auction or through an incentivised marketing partnership with industry in order to achieve the best return for the taxpayer. When declared as surplus, the disposal by sale of defence assets rests solely with the Ministry of Defence's Disposal Services Agency (DSA). I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave on 12 June Official Report, column 1260W to my hon. Friend for Reading, East (Ms Griffiths) that recorded the DSA's Key Targets for financial year 2002–03. I also refer to the DSA's Annual Report and Accounts that was laid before the House on 19 July and a copy will be placed in the Library of the House upon publication.
	The Ministry of Defence has a comprehensive set of procedures in place to ensure the availability of equipment to the front line and ensure that timely action is taken in the event that problems are identified. The Defence Logistics Organisation (DLO) has Customer Supplier Agreements (CSAs) with front line commands that set out logistic support requirements all of which are monitored regularly in terms of performance. The Disposal Services Agency has a Customer Supplier Agreement with the Defence Logistics Organisation to ensure that clear disposal targets are set and monitored.

Military Exports

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his answer of 18 July 2002, Official Report, column 491W, if he will list companies and individuals who in each of the last five years exported military supplies and who were based in (a) mainland UK, (b) the Channel Islands and (c) the Isle of Man.

Lewis Moonie: Information held by the United Kingdom Government on companies and individuals involved in the export of military supplies is commercial in confidence and is withheld under Sections 13 and 14 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information. Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man operate their own systems of export control closely modelled on that of the UK. Any export licence applications forwarded to the UK Government for advice by their authorities are also commercial in confidence and are also withheld under Sections 13 and 14 of the Code of Practice.

Fairford Tattoo

James Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what air traffic control restrictions on movements into and out of RAF Brize Norton are necessitated by the air tattoo at RAF Fairford; for what reason the C-17s are training out of RAF Lyneham during the Fairford Tattoo; what consideration his study of RAF Brize Norton, RAF Lyneham and RAF St Mowgan is giving to air traffic control issues; and if he will make a statement.

Adam Ingram: There were no air traffic control restrictions on movements into and out of RAF Brize Norton necessitated by the air tattoo at RAF Fairford. A Temporary Restriction on Airspace was implemented, which increased the size of the Station's standard Control Zone.
	On 18 July, the "arrival day" of the RAF Fairford Air Tattoo, the C17 that was to attend the event completed a number of training circuits at RAF Lyneham. This training could have been undertaken at any location where suitable support and infrastructure facilities exist. It is not unusual for aircrew to undertake training away from their station as this increases the variety and thus value of their training.
	Appropriate consultation and assessment is being undertaken on the air traffic control aspects of the basing options being considered as part of the Strategic Review. It would not be appropriate to comment on specific details of the Strategic Review until the report is complete.

12 Mechanised Brigade

Jimmy Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what proposals he has to bring the 12 Mechanised Infantry Brigade at Aldershot up to full manpower strength.

Adam Ingram: 12 Mechanised Brigade is a grouping of Infantry, Cavalry and Artillery regiments and supporting units, together with many supporting cap badges that are based throughout the country. The major units are stationed at Aldershot, Pirbright and Tidworth.
	The Brigade is an integral part of the Formation Readiness Cycle (FRC). As such, it spends one year providing troops for standing operations, one year in intensive training for war fighting, and on year as the Army's High Readiness Mechanised Brigade. During the High Readiness Year, the Brigade is liable for short-notice deployments in response to emerging crisis throughout the world. Under the FRC, elements of 12 Mechanised Brigade are already deployed: the Welsh Guards are in the Balkans, and Brigade Headquarters and 228 Signal Squadron, as well as 1 Battalion the Staffordshire Regiment (Armoured Infantry Battalion) will deploy to Kosovo (Operation AGRICOLA) between November 2002 and May 2003. The Brigade routinely requires augmentation from individuals or formed sub-units to meet the particular requirements of the roles it performs.
	Currently, 12 Mechanised Brigade's strength is 2,773 personnel; 98 per cent of its required liability of 2,824 personnel. There are no specific recruitment drives aimed at manning 12 Mechanised Brigade, however, action is being taken in a wide range of areas with the aim of increasing Army recruiting, both for officers and soldiers, co-ordinated by the Army Training and Recruiting Agency's Recruiting Group. Indeed, from 1 April 2002, 93 Regimental Recruiting Teams (RRTs), encompassing existing RRTs and the former Mobile Display Teams, staffed by Field Army personnel have been in operation.

Army Infantry Units

Jimmy Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what his policy is on allowing regular Army infantry units some special forces training in order to upgrade skills and make them more versatile.

Adam Ingram: Regular infantry units do not require Special Forces training. The infantry has available to it the training appropriate to its role.

Manoeuvre Brigades

Jimmy Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the shortfall in manpower is in each of the six manoeuvre brigades.

Adam Ingram: The liability and actual strength of each of the six manoeuvre brigades is detailed in the table below:
	
		
			  Establishment requirement Actual strength As a percentage 
		
		
			 1 UK Armoured Division
			 4 Armoured Brigade 4,579 4,239 93 
			 7 Armoured Brigade 4,903 4,587 94 
			 20 Armoured Brigade 3,945 3,706 94 
			   
			 3 (UK) Division
			 1 Mechanised Brigade 2,234 2,171 97 
			 12 Mechanised Brigade 2,824 2,773 98 
			 19 Mechanised Brigade 2,234 2,071 92

Pay as you Dine

Sandra Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when the MoD will begin pilot projects on the selected sites to trial Pay as you Dine for military sites.

Adam Ingram: holding answer 24 July 2002
	Pay As You Dine (PAYD) trials are to be progressively launched at 10 military sites within Great Britain over the next eight months. The first two trials will begin at Hyde Park Barracks, London (target start early September 2002) and HMS Seahawk, Helston, Cornwall (target start by the end of September 2002). A start date for the third trial at RAF Henlow, Bedfordshire has not yet been finalised, but is expected to be towards the end of October 2002.
	The remaining seven trial sites will be:
	Norton Manor Camp, Taunton; Marchwood Military Port; Cawdor Barracks, Haverfordwest; Battlesbury Barracks, Warminster; Wattisham Airfield, Ipswich; Fort George, Inverness and RAF Leuchars, North East Fife.
	Negotiations with industry about launching trials at these remaining sites will not begin until the first two trials are successfully underway, so it is not possible to be precise about start dates, but the aim is to have all ten trials running by April 2003.

Military Sites (Somerset)

Adrian Flook: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list active military sites in Somerset.

Lewis Moonie: The following sites belonging to the Ministry of Defence are active in Somerset:
	ACIO and satellite—35 East Street, Taunton
	Hydrographic Office, Taunton
	Mount House, Taunton
	Norton Manor Camp, Taunton
	Bombing Range, Bridgwater Bay
	RNAS Yeovilton
	Maltravers House, Yeovil
	Yoxter Range, Priddy
	Langport Range
	Merryfield Airfield, Ilchester
	MOD Sites in Bristol, Bath and the former county of Avon have been excluded.

Land Ownership (Hampshire)

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what sites in his Department's ownership in Hampshire are under review with regard to their continuing use by his Department; when a decision is expected on each of these sites; and if he will make a statement.

Lewis Moonie: All Ministry of Defence sites in Great Britain are currently under review by the MOD Core Sites team to achieve the objective set out in the MOD Estate Strategy, of identifying Core Sites by the end of 2002. This list will be used to inform future decisions regarding the utilisation of the estate.

Housing

Tom Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much military service personnel housing is owned by his Department in (a) the UK and (b) overseas.

Lewis Moonie: Most of the Families Quarters estate in England and Wales was sold to Annington Homes Ltd (AHL) in November 1996. The Defence Housing Executive (DHE) leases back from AHL the properties it needs to house Service families (some 45,000).
	However, a number of Service Family Quarters in England and Wales continue to be directly owned by the Ministry of Defence, as do all those in Scotland.
	So far as overseas locations are concerned, many of the properties used are not owned by MOD but are hirings or form part of an MOU or agreement with the country concerned. In Germany, for example, Service Families Accommodation (some 8,456 units) is owned by the Federal Government, although the MOD has stewardship of it.
	The most recent figures available are:
	
		
			 Area Number of Quarters 
		
		
			 England Scotland and Wales 52,600 in total (of which only some 7,000 are owned by MOD or leased under PFI arrangements) 
			 England Scotland and Wales—identified for disposal 2,500 (mainly AHL but figure cannot be split further) 
			 England Scotland and Wales—managed empty 6,300 (mainly AHL but will include some owned properties) 
			 Northern Ireland 3,200 
			 Overseas 10,787 
		
	
	The figures for housing in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are as at 2 April 2002. The figures for housing overseas are drawn from the Stewardship Report on the Defence Estate published in January 2002 and represents the latest available figures. All figures exclude Single Living Accommodation (SLA).

Annington Homes Ltd.

Andrew Love: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what estimate has been made of the (a) capital and (b) revenue loss to public funds of the sale of the Defence Service families accommodation to Annington Homes Ltd. in 1996; and if he will make a statement.

Lewis Moonie: The information requested is not available. The sale of the Married Quarters Estate to Annington Homes Ltd took place in November 1996, under the previous Administration and raised £1.662 billion for the Exchequer. Since then the Sale Agreement has been the subject of parliamentary and financial scrutiny and I would refer my hon. Friend to the House of Commons Defence Committee Report of the Sale of the Married Quarters Estate (HC94) dated 19 February 1997 and the Report by the Comptroller and Auditor General on The Sale of the Married Quarters Estate dated 31 July 1997.

Annington Homes Ltd.

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  pursuant to his answer of 11 July 2002, Official Report, column 1138W, how much has been received by the Exchequer under the Sale of Agreement profit share scheme with Annington Homes Limited in respect of former service families' accommodation in (a) Colchester and (b) England and Wales; and what the average share from sales of dwellings was in (i) Colchester and (ii) England and Wales;
	(2)  pursuant to his answer of 11 July 2002, Official Report, column 1138W, how many service families' accommodation units in England and Wales were sold to Annington Homes Limited; and what the average price per dwelling was;
	(3)  pursuant to his answer of 11 July 2002, Official Report, column 1138W, how much has been paid to Annington Homes Limited for family quarters in (a) England and Wales, (b) Colchester, (c) Scotland and (d) Northern Ireland since the sale of service families' accommodation and the commencement of the leaseback agreement.

Lewis Moonie: No receipts from the profit share arrangements have so far been received for properties released at Colchester. 46 properties passed to Annington at the time of the sale in 1996 did not trigger a profit share payment when sold. A further release of 36 properties is expected to result in a receipt. But this has yet to be finalised.
	More than 12,000 properties have been released to Annington to date. 8,716 properties have subsequently been sold by Annington. A proportion of these have triggered profit share payments totalling £44.92 million. The average profit share payment is thus £5,154.
	The sale to Anningtons of 57,428 properties in England and Wales raised £1.662 billion for the Exchequer. The average price per dwelling was approximately £29,000.
	Service families' accommodation in Scotland and Northern Ireland was not included in the sale to Annington. Since the sale in November 1996, Annington has received £665 million in rent for properties in England and Wales, including £16.5 million for family quarters in Colchester. The rent paid to Annington is discounted by 58 per cent. from the market value inter alia, to reflect the Ministry of Defence's continuing maintenance responsibility.

Annington Homes Ltd.

Clive Soley: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether the (a) Defence Housing Executive and (b) Addington Housing Association are permitted to raise funds on the private market based on the rental income of his Department's properties.

Lewis Moonie: In 1996 most Service families' accommodation in England and Wales was sold to Annington Homes Limited (AHL). Under the Sale Agreement, the Ministry of Defence underleases properties from Annington Homes to meet Service requirements. The Defence Housing Executive (DHE), an Agency of the MOD, manages and maintains the underleased properties but does not receive any private sector funding so to do. Annington Homes Ltd is a commercial organisation, and I would suggest that my hon Friend contacts them directly for information about their financial arrangements. DHE also acquires a proportion of its new housing stock through Public Private Partnership arrangements for which its partners do raise funds on the commercial market.

Army Deaths

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  how many soldiers from Scotland are included in the injury-related deaths in Great Britain, Northern Ireland and Germany between 1990 and 2002 involving serving members of the Army at army bases;
	(2)  how many of the injury-related deaths involving serving members of the Army at army bases in Great Britain between 1990 and 2002 occurred at army bases in Scotland;
	(3)  how many of the injury-related deaths involving serving members of the Army at army bases in Great Britain, Northern Ireland and Germany between 1990 and 2002 were linked to an army-issued weapon.

Lewis Moonie: holding answer 24 July 2002
	I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 9 July 2002 Official Report, column 848W) to my hon. Friend the Member for Hull, North (Mr. McNamara). The specific information requested concerning the origin of soldiers suffering injury-related deaths and the precise location of these deaths is not held centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost. However, between 1 January 1990 and 23 July 2002 there have been 188 reported deaths of Army personnel due to the discharge of firearms. Again, information on the weapon involved in each case is not held centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Retired Disabled Officers

John Greenway: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many retired disabled officers in receipt of a pension granted on account of medical unfitness attributable to military service have been assessed by the War Pensions Agency as having a 0 per cent. level of disability.

Lewis Moonie: Attributable disablement pensions may be awarded to officers and other ranks under either the War Pension Scheme (WPS) or the Armed Forces Pension Scheme (AFPS). Under the WPS, War Disablement Pensions or Gratuities would not be awarded in cases where the level of disability is assessed at 0 per cent. Under the AFPS, a Service Attributable Pension would similarly not be paid for conditions where the level of disability is assessed at 0 per cent. Service Invaliding Pensions may be in payment for attributable conditions at 0 per cent. but we could only establish the numbers involved by a review of individual files. The costs of such an exercise would be disproportionate.

Retired Disabled Officers

John Greenway: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many retired disabled officers in receipt of a pension granted on account of medical unfitness attributable to military service who have been identified as potentially entitled to a refund of wrongly deducted income tax (a) have received a full refund, (b) have been declined a refund and (c) have their cases subject to review.

Lewis Moonie: Of the 1,028 pensioners who have received a full refund of income tax from the Inland Revenue, 46 are retired officers.
	Details of the number of retired officers found not to be eligible to receive a refund of tax, or whose cases remain subject to review, are not held, although the total numbers, comprising both retired officers and other ranks, are available. These indicate that to date, the records of 53,503 personnel have been examined and a refund of tax found not to be due, and that 1,466 cases remain subject to review.

Medical Treatment

Paul Keetch: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence which private sector providers were selected in (a) 2000, (b) 2001 and (c) 2002 to date for the treatment of armed forces personnel, stating in each case (i) the number of personnel treated in that year and (ii) the cost to his Department; and if he will make a statement.

Lewis Moonie: holding answer 7 May 2002
	The information requested, covering the Financial Years 2000–01, 2001–02 and 2002–03 to date, is shown below.
	
		
			 Financial Year Number of Referrals Private Healthcare Providers Cost (£M) 
		
		
			 2000–01 1,634 BUPA, Nuffield Hospitals Group, BMI, Priory, Cygnet, Foxleigh Grove, The Retreat, Caprio, Independent, NHS 0.769 
			 2001–02 2,419 BUPA, Nuffield Hospitals Group, BMI, Priory, Cygnet, Trees Park, Caprio, Independent, NHS 4.095 
			 2002–03 to date 467 BUPA, Nuffield Hospitals Group, BMI, Caprio, Independent, NHS 0.837 
		
	
	Notes:
	1. The details provided cover central initiatives managed by the Defence Secondary Care Agency (DSCA), the use of private psychiatric facilities by the DSCA, initiatives run by the Royal Navy and the Army Training and Recruiting Agency (ATRA), plus local RAF referrals. The ATRA arrangements for the referral of potential recruits to private healthcare providers for pre-entry screening are not included, as they are not members of the Armed Forces.
	2. Figures are shown for the numbers of referrals. Patients may have had more than one referral. Numbers of patients could only be identified at disproportionate effort.
	3. Cost figures represent invoices paid in each financial year. The number of referrals does not correlate precisely with the cost figure for each financial year since some invoices may not be presented/paid until a subsequent financial year.
	4. Referrals in 2000–01 include 41 in 2000 for which no associated costs are available and 12, at a cost of £2500, covering 2000–01 and 2001–02 which cannot be apportioned separately to each financial year.
	5. Cost figure for 2001–02 is estimated as the final figure is not yet available.
	6. Cost figure for 2002–03 represents expenditure to date.

Medical Treatment

Paul Keetch: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  pursuant to the answer of 21 June 2002, Official Report, column 597W, on medical treatment, on what date the Rapid Treatment Initiative commenced and with what budget; by what criteria personnel are treated under the scheme; how many personnel in (a) the Army, (b) the Navy and (c) the RAF have been treated under the initiative and at what cost to his Department in each month since commencement; which health care providers have been used under the scheme; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  pursuant to his answer of 21 June 2002, Official Report, column 597W, on medical treatment, on what date the Waiting List Initiative commenced and with what budget; by what criteria personnel are treated under the scheme; how many personnel in (a) the Army, (b) the Navy and (c) the RAF have been treated under the initiative and at what cost to his Department in each month since commencement; which health care providers have been used under the scheme; and if he will make a statement.

Lewis Moonie: holding answer 3 July 2002
	Following competition, contracts were placed in 2000 with the Nuffield Hospitals Group and BUPA to provide treatment for a Ministry of Defence Waiting List Initiative (WLI). The WLI accepted referrals from 17 November 2000 to 31 March 2001. Treatments were undertaken up to 30 June 2001 and only exceptionally beyond that date. The budget for the initiative was £2.5 million.
	Service patients were referred from shortage occupations on the basis that they were expected to be fit for military operational deployment within six to nine months of treatment. The total number of referrals into the scheme by Service was:
	
		
			 Service Referrals 
		
		
			 Royal Navy 168 
			 Army 805 
			 Royal Air Force 435 
			 Total 1,408 
		
	
	Because of the number of hospitals participating in the scheme nation-wide and the number of patients treated, invoices submitted covered variable time periods with some information being provided months after treatments. Consequently, neither the invoice values nor payments made relate directly to individual months and it is not possible to provide a breakdown of the number of patients treated and the associated costs on such a basis. The total amount paid to the contractors for the WLI was some £2.2 million.
	Further contracts were placed with the same independent sector healthcare providers for the MOD Rapid Treatment Initiative (RTI). Referrals were accepted during a four-week period in January 2002. Most treatments were completed by 31 March 2002 with a number remaining to be undertaken in June and July. The budget for the Initiative was £1.1 million.
	The Initiative was open to Service patients requiring simple acute procedures, who were expected to be fit for normal duties within six months of treatment and who had at least 18 months left to serve in the Armed Forces. The total number of referrals into the scheme by Service was:
	
		
			 Service Referrals 
		
		
			 Royal Navy 51 
			 Army 327 
			 Royal Air Force 201 
			 Total 579 
		
	
	As with the WLI, records held do not allow for the information on patients treated or costs to be readily supplied by month. As at 3 July this year, the amount paid for treatment under the RTI, for patients treated up to 31 March 2002, was some £664,000.

Gulf War Syndrome

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many Gulf War veterans in the Portsmouth South constituency have been diagnosed with symptoms connected to Gulf War Syndrome; and if he will make a statement.

Lewis Moonie: The Ministry of Defence does not recognise "Gulf War Syndrome" as a medical condition. It accepts that some veterans of the 1990–91 Gulf conflict have become ill and that many believe this ill health is unusual and related to their Gulf experience. A large number of multi-system, multi-organ, non-specific, medically unexplained symptoms have been reported by some Gulf veterans as well as recognised medical conditions. The overwhelming consensus of the scientific and medical community is that there is insufficient evidence to enable this ill-health to be characterised as a unique illness, condition or "syndrome". With the exception of certain infectious diseases that are notifiable by statute, primary care doctors in England and Wales do not report centrally illnesses experienced by their patients. Therefore, the MOD is not able to assess the number of Gulf veterans in the Portsmouth, South constituency who have reported illnesses to their doctors. MOD is advised of cancer registrations in England, Wales and Scotland. We have published data on the incidence of cancer-related deaths in Gulf veterans as compared to a comparable group of Service personnel who did not deploy to the Gulf. Gulf veterans who wish to be examined by a physician expert in Gulf veterans' illnesses can be referred by their doctors to the Gulf Veterans' Medical Assessment Programme (GVMAP) which is funded by the MOD. As of 18 July 2002, 16 Gulf veterans had been seen at the GVMAP who were recorded as living in the Portsmouth, South constituency. Of these 12 were assessed as well at the time of their consultation.

Nuclear Safety

Alan Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what steps have been taken to test the level of UK compliance with the new REPPIR nuclear safety regulations; what requirements are set down by the Health and Safety Executive in respect of the new nuclear safety regulations; and whether his Department has provided the HSE with information to calculate safety zone distances in respect of a nuclear accident.

Adam Ingram: The Radiation (Emergency Preparedness and Public Information) Regulations 2001 sets down the requirements and responsibilities of operators, carriers and local authorities in responding to a reasonably foreseeable radiation emergency.
	The Ministry of Defence has undertaken assessments to identify the hazards and evaluate the risks from the Defence Nuclear Programme and has provided to the Health and Safety Executive reports of these assessments including, where appropriate, the area which is likely to be affected by the dispersal of any radioactive substance.
	The MOD maintains contingency plans to deal with accidents involving defence nuclear materials and conducts regular nuclear accident response exercises designed to test these plans.

Nuclear Safety

Alan Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what nuclear weapons accident exercises his Department plans to hold in the next 12 months.

Adam Ingram: The following table gives the current date, name and location of the nuclear weapon accident response exercises that are scheduled to take place during the remainder of 2002. The nuclear weapon exercise programme for 2003 is not yet finalised.
	
		
			 Month Name Location 
		
		
			 August Convoy NAR team Standardisation Leicestershire 
			 September RAF Station NAR team Standardisation* Northamptonshire 
			 October UK/US Table Top Exercise Norfolk 
			 October RAF Station NAR team Standardisation* Suffolk 
		
	
	*RAF Station Nuclear Accident Response (NAR) teams provide immediate response forces for the air transportation of nuclear weapons.

Nuclear Safety

Alan Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what lessons were learnt from the nuclear weapons accident exercises in East Anglia conducted on 24 May.

Adam Ingram: There were no formal nuclear weapon accident response exercises held in East Anglia on 24 May 2002.
	The Nuclear Weapon Convoy Group were however conducting training in East Anglia at this time as part of an ongoing training programme to ensure that the highest standards of safety and security are maintained. The details of this operational training are classified and I am therefore withholding the information requested under Exemption 1 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.

Nuclear Safety

Alan Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether the transfer of activities at Rolls Royce Nuclear, Derby, qualifies for its appraisal under REPPIR.

Adam Ingram: It would not be appropriate for me to comment on the commercial activities of Rolls Royce at Derby and the application of Radiation (Emergency Preparedness and Public Information) Regulations (REPPIR). They are a matter for the company and the Health and Safety Executive as the regulatory authority for REPPIR.

Nuclear Safety

Alan Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans he has for bringing the non-legislative LAESI guidelines into line with the new REPPIR requirements in respect of the transport of nuclear materials.

Adam Ingram: LAESI neither provides safety guidelines or regulations, but provides the Local Authorities and Emergency Services with information on contingency arrangements for accidents during the transport of nuclear weapons, special nuclear material and new and used submarine reactor fuel (known collectively as Defence Nuclear Materials). Our arrangements, as detailed in LAESI, have regard to all current statutory requirements, including Radiation (Emergency Preparedness and Public Information) Regulations (REPPIR), and are kept under regular review.

Afghanistan

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the latest estimate is of expenditure by his Department on operations in Afghanistan.

Adam Ingram: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave on 26 February Official Report, column 1133–34W to my hon. Friend the Member for Worcester (Mr. Foster) as part of our presentation of Spring Supplementary Estimates to the House, we estimate the total cost of operations in Afghanistan in financial year 2001–02 to be some £261 million. This figure includes the cost of munitions consumed and represents the additional cost of operations over and above the cost of planned activities.

Procurement

Jimmy Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what equipment in use with the armed forces has been procured from abroad.

Lewis Moonie: The internationalisation of high technology industries, including defence, means that almost all equipment will be sourced from a range of companies and locations.
	The Ministry of Defence's first responsibility as a customer is to ensure it gets value for money for the equipment required by the Armed Forces, principally by means of competition. We do not place constraints upon the nationality of equipment suppliers except for reasons of national security. However, when taking procurement decisions we do take into account wider issues such as security of supply, economic factors, industrial issues and foreign policy.
	Details of the ownership of all the contractors from whom we have procured in-service defence equipment, some of which was procured more than thirty years ago, are not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Two Operations Commitment

Jimmy Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will review the two operations commitment.

Adam Ingram: The White Paper on the Strategic Defence Review: A New Chapter, Cm5566, addressed this issue (paragraphs 31–32 and 91). Since the Strategic Defence Review (SDR) was published in 1998 the risk of large scale conflict in Europe has further reduced, and relations with Russia have seen a step change improvement. But we have also routinely deployed our Armed Forces on more operations concurrently than we envisaged in the SDR, though the scale of these deployments has been in some respects smaller than we envisaged at the time of the SDR. That has created the risk of overburdening key enabling units, who are essential for all expeditionary deployments (for example, communicators, engineers and movements personnel).
	We now need to factor these evolutions in the strategic and operational environment more fully into our planning.

Defence Manufacturing

Jimmy Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what discussions have taken place with European colleagues on increasing defence manufacturing co-operation in Europe; and if he will make a statement on progress made since 1997.

Lewis Moonie: Discussions on this broad ranging topic take place routinely both bilaterally and in multilateral fora. We recognise the importance of such co-operation, and are engaged in a number of initiatives in Europe aimed at paving the way for more effective defence industrial co-operation, improving the management of co-operative equipment projects, as well as identifying further opportunities to co-operate where it makes military, industrial and economic sense to do so. Specifically in the defence manufacturing co-operation field, along with our colleagues in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Sweden, we signed the Letter of Intent Framework Agreement in July 2000 related to measures to facilitate the restructuring and operation of the European defence industry. This Agreement represents a commitment by the six nations to remove obstacles to industrial restructuring and co-operation. All six nations, in conjunction with industry, continue to implement the Agreement.

Technology Centres

Jimmy Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many defence technology centres will be created; what the cost will be; and if he will make a statement on their use in securing more (a) foreign and (b) domestic contracts.

Lewis Moonie: The expectation is of six centres being launched, in two tranches of three each, with the Ministry of Defence funding of up to £5 million per cent.re per year. The supplier consortia are also expected to contribute funding. This investment will result in centres of expertise, focused in industry and academia, in technologies of importance to Defence. MOD will ensure that the centres' outputs can be transitioned effectively into equipment programmes for the United Kingdom Armed Forces. Beyond that, the consortia will own the intellectual property and be encouraged to exploit it in wider markets.

Future Strategic Tanker AirCraft Programme

Jimmy Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the future strategic tanker aircraft programme; when the aircraft will come into service; and when the (a) VC-10 and (b) Tri-Star tankers will be retired.

Adam Ingram: The Future Strategic Tanker Aircraft (FSTA) is planned to replace our VC10 and TriStar air-to-air refuelling aircraft. An Invitation to Negotiate for this potential PFI contract was issued to industry in December 2000. Bids were received from two consortia in July 2001 and we are currently in negotiations with both bidders. FSTA is planned to enter service in 2008 and is expected to be fully operational by 2012. The existing RAF refuelling fleet is made up of two aircraft types comprising 19 VC10s and 6 TriStars. On current plans, the VC10s are due to go out of service by the end of the decade with the TriStars leaving service shortly afterwards. Precise dates can be amended, as necessary, to ensure a smooth transition to the new planned FSTA fleet.

Hospital Ships

Peter Viggers: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the proposed timetable and specification are for the construction of the proposed two hospital ships.

Lewis Moonie: Hospital ships are subject to a number of constraints under the Geneva conventions which limit their military utility severely. I assume therefore that the hon Member is referring to our requirement for an afloat primary casualty receiving capability. This project entered its Assessment Phase last year, and the project team is currently investigating a number of possible solutions to the requirement, including purpose-built or converted shipping, and modular solutions based on other hulls as required. It is therefore too early to suggest a particular specification or timetable for the chosen solution's construction, but the capability is expected to enter service later this decade.

Submarines

Jimmy Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what recent developments have been made in submarine air independent propulsion; what the implications of this are for diesel submarines; and if he will make a statement on the future of diesel submarines in the Royal Navy.

Lewis Moonie: We are monitoring the developments in submarine air independent propulsion technologies. Our Maritime Underwater Future Capability programme is looking into the range of future capabilities required by the United Kingdom for the control and denial of the underwater battlespace into the third and fourth decades of the century. We will be considering a wide range of concepts, including innovative solutions combining unmanned underwater vehicles, ships, airborne and land assets, as well as submarines. Our studies will assess the alternative future power source technologies for submarines and unmanned underwater vehicles, but it is too early to make any decisions.

SA80

Jimmy Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much has been spent in modifying the SA80; and what plans he has to (a) modify and (b) replace the rifle.

Geoff Hoon: The approved cost limit of the SA80 modification programme is £92 million and to date £15.5 million has been spent. On current plans the SA80 A2 is due to remain in service until 2020 but will be replaced from 2015 onwards.
	In common with all weapon systems, refinements may be made during its service life.

A400M

Jimmy Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the German commitment to the A400M project; what problems have been encountered with compatibility with the C-130; and what the capability of the aircraft is.

Lewis Moonie: We have been assured by the German Government of their continued commitment to the A400M project. We hope very much that Germany will secure all outstanding parliamentary approvals at the earliest opportunity so that we may press ahead with this important collaborative project.
	Our C-130J and A400M aircraft will fulfil complementary roles; we do not anticipate any compatibility issues. The A400M will be a strategic transport asset, capable of carrying a maximum payload of 32 tonnes for a nominal distance of 2,300 nautical miles non-stop. This capability exceeds significantly that provided by the C-130K aircraft it will replace.
	The A400M will have advanced avionics and mission systems, allowing the aircraft to be operated by a three man crew.

Armoured Vehicles

Jimmy Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what measures have been taken to increase the reliability of the Challenger and Warrior armoured vehicles; and what the future replacement of these vehicles will be.

Lewis Moonie: There are no specific reliability problems with either the Challenger 2 Main Battle Tank (MBT) or the Warrior Infantry Fighting Vehicle. We are, however, always looking for opportunities to improve.
	For Challenger 2 specific measures include work to prolong the life of the gearbox, the engine and the track. Trials are also planned to take place in the Autumn to look for ways to reduce dust ingestion. Warrior reliability and safety has already been improved through ammunition feed and transmission modifications and measures are being taken to improve the life of the engine, gearbox and track. Warrior is also due to receive a major upgrade in 2010 which will result in a new turret, an improved cannon and a more sophisticated gun control system.
	Challenger 2 and Warrior are due to remain in service until around 2025 and as such the future replacement of these vehicles is only at the very early concept stage.

FIST

Jimmy Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what developments are to be undertaken with FIST; and if he will make a statement.

Lewis Moonie: The Future Integrated Soldier Technology (FIST) programme will bring the benefits of enhanced technology to the soldier by providing an integrated suite of equipment. The programme will enhance the mission effectiveness of those soldiers committed to dismounted close combat.
	A competition is underway to choose a prime contractor for the Assessment Phase. The Defence Procurement Agency is currently assessing bids from BAe Systems Ltd, Marconi Mobile Ltd, Raytheon Systems Ltd and Thales Optronics Ltd. Down selection from four to two companies is scheduled for next month. The selection of the single Prime Contractor for the Assessment Phase programme is planned for early 2003.

C103J

Paul Keetch: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what additional expenditure there has been to provide load masters on RAF C103Js with protective headgear; and if he will make a statement.

Lewis Moonie: When deployed on operational duties, load masters on the RAF C103J aircraft are issued with either the Mk 4A/4 or Mk 4B/4L flying helmet. For head protection, these helmets are standard inventory items and have not resulted in additional expenditure for the C103J.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Bernard Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence which unmanned aerial vehicles are being assessed by his Department; and with what countries these systems are in service.

Lewis Moonie: holding answer 19 July 2002
	The Watchkeeper programme is the only programme in which unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are being assessed. Under this programme, an initial assessment is being made of unmanned aerial vehicles developed from the following: Hermes 450, Predator, Eagle, Firescout, Shadow 200, Hermes 180, Ranger and Spectre 3. A number of these vehicles will shortly be selected for a more extensive assessment. We are aware that the Predator vehicle is used by US forces, the Hermes 450 is in service in Israel, and Ranger is in service in Switzerland.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Jimmy Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what research has been done into unmanned and uninhabited aerial vehicles; how many of these vehicles the armed forces possess; and what plans there are to extend their use.

Lewis Moonie: Research into UAVs has been conducted in a range of areas. For example, the Observer technical demonstrator, completed in 2001, examined a small UAV system assessing aerial vehicles, sensors and operator interfaces. The lessons identified fed directly into the Watchkeeper programme. Other research has looked at, and continues to examine, areas such as the potential for man portable UAVs and the potential contribution of UAVs in providing mobile communication platforms to extend the battlespace information infrastructure.
	Phoenix is the only UAV system currently in service with the Armed Forces, for which 198 aerial vehicles were purchased.
	In addition to the Watchkeeper programme (which will provide a surveillance and target acquisition capability principally in support of land commanders), UAVs are also being considered as potential solutions to elements of the Maritime Airborne Surveillance and Control programme and as a possible contribution to the Future Offensive Air System.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Paul Keetch: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans his Department has to conduct an impact assessment study of the influence of the Watchkeeper contract on future procurement decisions; and if he will make a statement.

Lewis Moonie: None.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Jimmy Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the Watchkeeper programme; what funding has been allocated to it; and what its capability is intended to be.

Lewis Moonie: Watchkeeper is being acquired to increase the capability of the Armed Forces to undertake Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance tasks. Watchkeeper will principally support land commanders from Battlegroup to Divisional level and will meet a significant proportion of their intelligence and information requirements. The Watchkeeper system will comprise UAVs, sensor packages and associated facilities on the ground to collate, exploit and disseminate the information gathered. The numbers and types of UAVs and the architecture of the overall system are currently being examined in the assessment phase where operational and technical risks are being identified and minimised. We would expect to spend around £860 million acquiring the Watchkeeper system.

Air Defence

Jimmy Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what air defence will be provided for the Royal Navy between 2007 and 2012.

Adam Ingram: United Kingdom maritime forces normally operate as part of a Task Group, which protects itself against air attack through a series of "layered" defences. Task Groups typically include Type 42 Anti-Air Warfare Destroyers and Type 22 and 23 Frigates equipped with air defence capability. Many other Task Group warships will also include air defence assets for self protection and decoy systems against air and surface launched anti-ship missiles. The Type 42 Destroyers will be replaced by the Type 45 Destroyers, fitted with the highly capable Principle Anti-Air Missile System (PAAMS). The First of Class Type 45 Destroyer is planned to enter service from late 2007. The first upgraded AEW Sea King Flight will go to sea later this year and will provide a marked improvement in capability to detect airborne threats to the Task Group over both sea and land.

Military Aircraft Manufacturing

Jimmy Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the future of UK military aircraft manufacturing in Britain; and what measures are being taken to maintain and expand the industry.

Lewis Moonie: The United Kingdom military aircraft sector is efficient, innovative and highly competitive, and with these qualities it has very strong potential for success in the future. Given the importance of the industry for the supply of equipment to our Armed Forces, not to mention its role as a significant employer, the Government has of course a close interest in its success. The industry already benefits from a large programme of Ministry of Defence work on projects including JSF, Eurofighter, Nimrod, A400M and Apache. Future programmes such as the Future Strategic Transport Aircraft project are also likely to result in a significant programme of work for UK companies. And we will continue to take industrial factors into account within the medium of our competitive procurement policy.
	The Government is committed to investing in defence research and technology in partnership with industry, which is crucial in sustaining a viable and competitive industrial base long-term, while focusing more effectively on areas where we achieve best return and where UK industry can be world class. We have also recently extended the tax breaks that are available to companies investing in research and technology.
	We will also continue to pursue vigorously the importance of liberalising defence trade and technology flows between our allies. We give strong support to the industry's bids for export orders, and we also welcome inward investment bringing high-value skills and technologies into the UK industrial base.

Battlefield Target Identification

Andrew Hunter: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will introduce ground-to-ground battlefield target identification device equipment; and if he will make a statement.

Lewis Moonie: Since February 1999 the Ministry of Defence has conducted research into the feasibility of introducing a ground-to-ground target identification system. As a result we have successfully demonstrated a Battlefield Target Identification Device (BTID): We are now fully engaged with our NATO allies as part of the US-led Advanced Concept Technology Demonstrator programme, which aims to develop a joint coalition concept of operations and to demonstrate interoperability amongst national BTID prototype solutions. A decision on whether to introduce a ground-to-ground target identification system has yet to be made.

Tracer/Watchkeeper Programmes

Paul Keetch: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the cost has been to date of the (a) Tracer and (b) Watchkeeper programmes.

Lewis Moonie: holding answer 17 July 2002
	The cost of the Tracer programme to the United Kingdom to the end of June was some £120 million. By the time the assessment phase contract is concluded at the end of July 2002 we expect to have spent a further £11 million. Although in October 2001 the Ministry of Defence agreed with the United States DoD not to proceed beyond the assessment phase with this collaborative programme, we expect to apply directly the technical maturity and military utility of a number of key armoured vehicle technologies to the Future Rapid Effect System programme.
	Expenditure to date on the Watchkeeper programme is some £26 million.

Galileo Satellite Navigation System

Gerald Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what strategic military implications he estimates the proposed Galileo satellite navigation system is likely to have.

Lewis Moonie: The EU Transport Council has called for interoperability between the civil Galileo programme and the United States Global Positioning System, which is used by NATO for military purposes, to be guaranteed by an EU/US agreement. Accordingly, I do not anticipate that Galileo will have strategic military implications for the United Kingdom or for our allies and partners.

ScanEagle

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans there are to use the ScanEagle system for British reconnaissance missions; and if he will make a statement.

Lewis Moonie: ScanEagle is part of a wider system of UAVs currently being considered, along with a number of other approaches, as a possible contender for the Maritime Airborne Surveillance and Control (MASC) capability. MASC is due to enter service in 2012 and no decision will be taken on the preferred solution prior to the Main Gate approval currently scheduled for 2006.

HEALTH

Lactose Intolerance

Colin Breed: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many lactose-intolerant children between the ages of (a) 0 to 5, (b) 5 to 11 and (c) 11 to 18 there were in each of the last 15 years.

Jacqui Smith: Data from the Department's Hospital Episode Statistics show the number of children between the ages 0–5, 6–11 and 12–18 years admitted for lactose intolerance in National Health Service Hospitals in England during the period 1989–90 to 2000–01 is shown in the table. Data from 1986 to 1988 are not available.
	
		Table 1. Number of children between the ages 0–5, 6–11 and -- 12–18 years admitted for lactose intolerance in NHS Hospitals in England during the period 1989–90 to 2000–01
		
			 Age of children (years)  
		
		
			 Year 0–5 6–11 12–18 
			 1989–90 184 13 12 
			 1990–91 235 11 4 
			 1991–92 213 15 6 
			 1992–93 188 22 10 
			 1993–94 163 23 9 
			 1994–95 140 15 8 
			 1995–96 113 14 7 
			 1996–97 123 13 8 
			 1997–98 113 7 6 
			 1998–99 123 18 5 
			 1999–2000 124 11 8 
			 2000–01 88 13 4 
		
	
	Source:
	Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), Department of Health

Temporary Staff

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many employees under contract from temping agencies worked within his Department; and how much was spent on temporary staff (a) as a total and (b) as a percentage of the total staffing budget in each of the last five years for which figures are available.

David Lammy: The Department does not hold information on the number of employees under contract from temping agencies.
	The amount spent on staff from temping agencies for the period requested is shown in the table.
	
		
			  1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 
		
		
			 (a) As a total 2 see note 1 £6,699,209 £8,776,817 £7,339,730 £7,589,927 
			 (b) as a percentage of the total staffing budget see note 1 5 per cent. 6 per cent. 5 per cent. 5 per cent. 
		
	
	Source:
	Figures are taken from the department's accounting system.
	1 Comparable figures for 1997–98 is not available.
	2 Includes staff obtained from agencies to cover work of messengers and typists. Also includes cost of information technology staff employed from agencies and IT contractors.

Looked-after Children (Portsmouth, South)

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many children have looked-after status in the Portsmouth, South constituency; and if he will make a statement.

Jacqui Smith: There were 250 looked-after children in the unitary authority Portsmouth at 31 March 2001. This excludes children looked after in an agreed series of short-term placements.

Waiting Times

Evan Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will rank NHS trusts in England in order of the highest waiting times for hospital operations, according to the numbers waiting (a) over six months and (b) over 12 months for in-patient treatments, at the latest date for which figures are available.

John Hutton: Information on the number of patients waiting over six months and over 12 months for elective admission at National Health Service trusts in England as at 31 May 2002 has been placed in the Library. The trusts are ranked, with the trust with the highest number of six month waits at the top.

Waiting Times

Evan Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when information on waiting times data from primary care trusts will be published.

John Hutton: Waiting times data about primary care trusts that provide consultant inpatient and consultant outpatient services have been published since April 2001.

Waiting Times

Virginia Bottomley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients have been waiting over one year for inpatient treatment in West Surrey.

Hazel Blears: Figures for Quarter 4 of 2001–02, March 2002, show that 558 patients in the former West Surrey Health Authority area had waited over twelve months for inpatient treatment.

Chronic Respiratory Diseases

Tim Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what action his Department is taking to improve services for pulmonary rehabilitation for those suffering from chronic respiratory diseases.

Hazel Blears: We are aware that provision of pulmonary rehabilitation is a service increasingly offered by local departments of respiratory medicine.
	It is a decision for primary care trusts, in partnership with other local stakeholders, to assess the health needs of their populations, including those needing pulmonary rehabilitation, and to commission services to meet those needs.
	We have also commissioned the National Institute for Clinical Excellence to prepare clinical guidelines for the National Health Service in England and Wales for the prevention, diagnosis, management and treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. It is expected that the guidelines should be issued around February 2004.

Hospital Appointments

John Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the practice of hospital appointments officers deferring putting patients on waiting lists until a time nearer an available appointment, with particular reference to the case of Mr. William Wood of Solihull.

John Hutton: Patients referred for a first outpatient appointment with a consultant should be placed on the outpatient waiting list from the date the referral was received by the Trust. Inpatients should be placed on the inpatient list from the date a consultant makes a decision to admit.
	Unfortunately, Birmingham Heartlands and Solihull National Health Service trust have been unable to identify the individual patient referred to. Mr. Woods may wish to contact the trust, who would be happy to look into his circumstances. Alternatively, if the hon. Member would like to write to me giving further details and Mr. Wood's written consent to investigate, I will instruct my officials to look into the matter further.

Golden Hellos

Patsy Calton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how many golden hello awards of £10,000 have been paid to qualifying medical practitioners, broken down by (a) month and (b) health authority, since April 2001;
	(2)  how many golden hello awards have been refused to medical practitioners, broken down by (a) month and (b) health authority, since April 2001; for what reasons; and if he will make a statement.

John Hutton: Information relating to when health authorities make payments in respect of this scheme is not held centrally. Application forms forwarded to the Department by health authorities for monitoring purposes indicate that at least 630 general practitioners (GPs) have received a payment of £10,000. Information broken down by health authority is shown in the table.
	Information on applications that have been refused by health authorities or primary care trusts is not held centrally.
	It is for health authorities/primary care trusts to determine whether a GP is eligible to receive payment, in accordance with the guidance issued by the Department.
	Number of £10,000 Payments made by Health Authorities
	
		
			 Financial Year 2001–02  
			 Health Authority No. 
		
		
			 Avon 7 
			 Barking and Havering 2 
			 Barnet Enfield and Haringey 7 
			 Bradford 6 
			 Bury and Rochdale 5 
			 Calderdale and Kirklees 5 
			 Cambridgeshire 8 
			 Cornwall and Isles of Scilly 1 
			 County Durham 19 
			 Coventry 3 
			 Croydon 11 
			 Doncaster 6 
			 Dorset 5 
			 East Kent 10 
			 East Lancashire 10 
			 East Riding 4 
			 Kensington, Chelsea and Westminster 5 
			 Kingston and Richmond 2 
			 Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham 20 
			 Leeds 3 
			 Lincolnshire 2 
			 Liverpool 6 
			 Manchester 4 
			 Merton Sutton and Wandsworth 13 
			 Newcastle and North Tyneside 6 
			 Norfolk 5 
			 North and East Devon 4 
			 North Cheshire 12 
			 North Derbyshire 6 
			 North Essex 2 
			 North Nottinghamshire 6 
			 North Staffordshire 7 
			 North West Lancashire 1 
			 Northamptonshire 2 
			 Northumberland 3 
			 Redbridge and Waltham Forest 9 
			 Rotherham 13 
			 Salford and Trafford 13 
			 Sandwell 5 
			 Sefton 5 
			 Sheffield 4 
			 Shropshire 8 
			 Solihull 3 
			 South and West Devon 7 
			 South Cheshire 3 
			 South Derbyshire 5 
			 South Humber 1 
			 South Lancashire 2 
			 South Staffordshire 8 
			 Stockport 3 
			 Suffolk 10 
			 Sunderland 8 
			 Tees 6 
			 Walsall 1 
			 Warwickshire 3 
			 West Pennine 7 
			 West Surrey 4 
			 West Sussex 9 
			 Wigan and Bolton 9 
			 Wirral 3 
			 Wolverhampton 9 
			 Worcestershire 5 
			 Total for 2001–02 381 
		
	
	Note:
	Due to the reconfiguration of health authorities into strategic health authorities on 1 April 2002, this information has been broken down into two financial years.
	
		
			 Financial year 2002–03  
			 Strategic Health Authority No. 
		
		
			 Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire 5 
			 Birmingham and Black Country 3 
			 Cheshire and Merseyside 7 
			 County Durham and Tees 14 
			 Coventry Warwickshire Herefordshire 
			 and Worcestershire 3 
			 Cumbria and Lancashire 16 
			 Essex 13 
			 Greater Manchester 16 
			 Kent and Medway 11 
			 Leicestershire Northamptonshire and Rutland 8 
			 Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire 8 
			 North and East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire 5 
			 North Central London 1 
			 North East London 19 
			 North West London 6 
			 Northumberland, Tyne and Wear 20 
			 Shropshire and Staffordshire 9 
			 South East London 25 
			 South West London 8 
			 South West Peninsula 6 
			 South Yorkshire 11 
			 Surrey and Sussex 27 
			 Trent 6 
			 West Yorkshire 2 
			 Total for 2002–03 to date 249

Elderly Care (Birmingham)

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what additional (a) capital and (b) revenue will be made available to Birmingham Social Services Department to pay for services for elderly people as a result of the measures announced in his statement on 23 July.

Jacqui Smith: All local councils will benefit from the extra resources announced by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer when personal social services resources are set to increase by on average 6 per cent. per annum in real terms over the next three years, 2003–04, 2004–05 and 2005–06. Details of how the increases for next year's social services resources will be allocated to individual local councils will be announced later this year at the time of the local government settlement.

Cystic Fibrosis

Iain Luke: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  if he will consult medical experts and interested organisations with a view to conducting a review of his Department's decision not to include cystic fibrosis on the list of readily identifiable conditions;
	(2)  for what reasons cystic fibrosis is not included on the list of readily identifiable conditions;
	(3)  what plans he has to include in the near future cystic fibrosis on the list of readily identifiable conditions in order to exempt sufferers from prescription charges.

David Lammy: Our policy is to give priority to helping people who may have difficulty in paying charges, rather than extending the exemption arrangements to people with other medical conditions such as cystic fibrosis.
	When we reviewed the prescription charging arrangements as part of the 1998 Comprehensive Spending Review, we noted that there was no consensus on what additional conditions might be included in any revised list of medical exemptions, or how distinctions could be drawn between one condition and another. We concluded that it would not be right to consider one group in isolation.

Design Champion

Debra Shipley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his answer of 13 March 2002, Official Report, column 1140W, on the Design Champion, if he will make a statement on the Design Champion's input into (a) Walsall Design Examplar and (b) South Manchester Primary Care Trust Development.

David Lammy: In his capacity as ministerial design champion for the Department, my noble Friend the Under-Secretary of State, Lord Hunt of Kings Heath, is personally mentoring four schemes. Walsall and South Manchester were on the original list but the final list includes the following four:
	Central Manchester Teaching Hospitals National Health Service Trust
	University Hospitals Birmingham National Health Service Trust/South Birmingham Mental Health Trust
	Braunstone Integrated Health and Social Care Leicester City West Primary Care Trust
	Walsall Hospitals National Health Service Trust Design Exemplar
	My noble Friend has visited and had meetings with the trust project teams at Central Manchester and University Hospitals Birmingham.
	He has met the Braunstone project team, trust Chief Executive and Chair. Visits to Braunstone and Walsall are being arranged.

Silverlands, Chertsey

Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what his Department's plans are for the future use of the property Silverlands, near Chertsey.

David Lammy: The Department is undertaking a review of possible usage for the National Health Service.

Sleep Apnoea

Tim Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what action his Department is taking to encourage good practice in (a) the treatment at primary care level and (b) the self-management of sleep apnoea.

Hazel Blears: Awareness about this condition has developed relatively recently nevertheless, there are already some specialised National Health Service sleep disorder services being developed. Examples are St Thomas's Hospital, London and at hospitals in Cambridge and Leicester. This should form the basis for building expertise within the NHS, and developing uniform service provision.
	Primary care trusts, in partnership with local stakeholders, have the responsibility for deciding what services to provide for their populations including those with sleep apnoea. They are best placed to understand local health needs and commission services to meet them.

Roaccutane

Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when the Medical Control Agency will report on the effects of the drug Roaccutane; and if he will make a statement.

David Lammy: Roaccutane (isotretinoin) is licensed for the treatment of conglobate and cystic acne and severe acne which has failed to respond to antibiotics.
	The Medicines Control Agency (MCA) is currently leading a European-wide review of the safety of Roaccutane, which will consider the balance of risks and benefits and will aim to ensure that up to date and consistent information is provided to health professionals and patients to optimise its safe use. This is likely to take several months.
	The safety and side effects of all medicines on the United Kingdom market are continuously monitored by the MCA with independent expert advice from the committee on safety of medicines. The side effects known or suspected to be caused by Roaccutane are listed in the product information which is produced by the manufacturer and authorised by the licensing authority. The product information consists of a summary of product characteristics for healthcare professionals and a patient information leaflet.

Early Pregnancy Unit

Jane Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the cost is per pregnancy of an early pregnancy unit.

Jacqui Smith: This information is not available centrally.

Ectopic Pregnancy

Jane Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average cost is to the NHS of an ectopic pregnancy.

Jacqui Smith: This information is not available centrally.

Ectopic Pregnancy

Jane Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many ectopic pregnancies have occurred in each of the last 10 years; and how many women have (a) been hospitalised and (b) died as a result of ectopic pregnancies in each of the last 10 years.

Jacqui Smith: The information available on ectopic pregnancy is shown in the table.
	
		Number of ectopic pregnancies and deaths from ectopic pregnancies
		
			 Triennium Estimated pregnancies (n, 1000s) Estimated Ectopic pregnancies (n) Ectopic pregnancies per 1000 pregnancies Deaths from ectopic pregnancies (n) Death rate* 
		
		
			 1991–93 3139.5 30160 9.6 9 0.3 
			 1994–96 2914.9 33550 11.5 12 0.4 
			 1997–99 2873.3 31946 11.1 13 0.4 
		
	
	*per 1000 estimated ectopic pregnancies
	Source:
	Why Mothers Die 1997–99—Report from the Confidential Enquiries into Maternal Deaths in the UK—December 2001.
	Hospitalisation of women with ectopic pregnancy.
	
		Numbers of episodes in hospital with a primary diagnosis of Ectopic Pregnancy
		
			 (ICD10 Code 000)  
		
		
			 1990–91 9231 
			 1991–92 9978 
			 1992–93 10074 
			 1993–94 9694 
			 1994–95 9722 
			 1995–96 9525 
			 1996–97 9557 
			 1997–98 9324 
			 1998–99 9116 
			 1999–2000 8887 
			 2000–01 8617* 
		
	
	*provisional
	Data is grossed for coverage and missing data.
	Source:
	Hospital Episode Statistics

Ectopic Pregnancy

Jane Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the percentage of ectopic pregnancies caused by chlamydia infections.

Jacqui Smith: We are not aware of any research undertaken in this country on the percentage of ectopic pregnancies caused by genital chlamydial infection. However, results of a French study published in 1991 indicated that 43 per cent. of ectopic pregnancies were associated with genital chlamydial infection.
	The rise in the rates of genital chlamydia infections is of concern and the national strategy for sexual health and HIV commits to beginning a programme of screening for chlamydia for targeted groups in 2002.

IVF

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  if he will take steps to change the HFEA's (a) code of practice and (b) operating procedures to prevent the pre-selection of physical or mental characteristics other than to find a match for those of the prospective father's characteristics or to provide a healthy embryo;
	(2)  if he will list the IVF clinics at which prospective parents seeking IVF treatment, may select by donor, (a) eye colour, (b) height, (c) build, (d) hair colour, (e) profession, (f) IQ, (g) sporting ability, (h) career achievement and (i) educational or professional qualification achievement, irrespective of their consistency with the father's characteristics;
	(3)  which donor sperm characteristics cannot be requested by potential parents seeking IVF treatment;
	(4)  if he will ask the HFEA to suspend the licence of IVF clinics that offer choice of donor sperm characteristics that are not consistent with those of the prospective father or necessary for the creation of a healthy baby.

Hazel Blears: Where donated sperm, eggs or embryos are used in assisted conception treatment, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority's (HFEA) code of practice and the authority's operating procedures put the utmost importance on the welfare of the child to be conceived. A treating clinic must comply with this requirement when choosing the donor to be used. If it does not do so, the HFEA will consider the appropriate action to take, including placing conditions on, or suspending or revoking, the clinic's licence.
	The code of practice is currently being revised, and consideration will be given to the need for this message to be reinforced.
	The HFEA is aware of recent media reports that some clinics may not be following these procedures. It is currently investigating to ascertain if a breach of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 or the code of practice has occurred.

IVF

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what controls are in place to prevent the importation of donor sperm to meet desired genetic physical or mental characteristics other than those necessary to produce a healthy child with characteristics consistent with those of that child's prospective parents.

Hazel Blears: The importation of donor sperm is subject to special directions issued by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) in each case. The reasons for the importation must be clearly stated, and the use of the sperm must comply with the requirements that the HFEA places on all treatment involving donated gametes.

IVF

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what safeguards there are to prevent (a) clinics and (b) prospective parents intervening in IVF treatment to manipulate the physical or mental characteristics of an embryo, other than those necessary to ensure the health and well-being of the baby; and if he will make a statement.

Hazel Blears: Schedule 2 paragraph 4 of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 prohibits the alteration of the genetic structure of a cell while it forms part of an embryo. If a clinic did so, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority would take appropriate action, including placing conditions on, or suspending or revoking, the clinic's licence.

Growth Hormones

Desmond Swayne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the prescribing of growth hormones for adults on the NHS.

Hazel Blears: Human growth hormone treatment for adults is currently available on the National Health Service subject to a patient's clinician deciding there is a need for such treatment.
	The National Institute for Clinical Excellence is currently appraising the clinical effectiveness and cost effectiveness of human growth hormone in adults. We expect that they will announce their decision in October.

Departmental Vehicles

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many vehicles he and his Ministers have access to, broken down by vehicle type; what the annual operating costs were in each of the last three financial years; how much it costs to convert a car so it is suitable for a Government Minister; and if he will make a statement.

David Lammy: holding answer 23 July 2002
	The Department's Ministers currently have access to six cars:
	1 Vauxhall Omega
	1 Nissan Primera
	2 Rover 45s
	2 Ford Mondeos
	The total operating costs for Ministerial cars in the last three financial years were:
	2001–2002: £318,000
	2000–2001: £315,000
	1999–2000: £306,000
	To make cars suitable for Government Ministers, the only modification required is to fit additional reading lights at a cost of £245 per vehicle.

Commission for Health Improvement

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he anticipates the Commission for Health Improvement being incorporated into the Commission for Healthcare Audit and Inspection.

David Lammy: holding answer 23 July 2002
	Legislation to establish the Commission for Healthcare Audit and Inspection will be introduced as soon as Parliamentary time allows.

Substance Abuse

Phil Sawford: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what funding is available through the NHS for education and prevention of volatile substance abuse.

Hazel Blears: The Department has issued drug education and prevention funding, £5 million in 2001–02 and £9 million in 2002–03, to primary care trusts (PCTs). This money is for PCTs, along with local agencies, to support the requirement to reduce the proportion of people under the age of 25 reporting the use of class A drugs by 25 per cent. by 2005. All PCTs and social services departments, in partnership with their local drug action team, will use this funding to commission, primary prevention activity for the general population and primary and secondary prevention activity for all young people identified as at risk, in accordance with the Department's guidelines. This includes education and prevention on solvents and volatile substances.

Heroin Addicts

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many known heroin addicts there are in (a) Britain, (b) Nottinghamshire and (c) Bassetlaw.

Hazel Blears: holding answer 23 July 2002
	This information is not available centrally.
	The estimate of the number of drug misusers in the United Kingdom is between 200,000 and 220,000. The figure for Nottinghamshire and Bassetlaw is not calculated either centrally or locally at present.

Heroin Addicts

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what range of treatments are available for heroin addicts in (a) England and (b) Bassetlaw.

Hazel Blears: holding answer 23 July 2002
	The types of structured treatment available in England are inpatient detoxification, specialist prescribing, general practitioner prescribing, counselling, day care and residential rehabilitation.
	All of these are available to the residents of Bassetlaw, and are delivered by the local community drug team, the young peoples criminal justice team, FaceIT, SORTED, the needle and syringe exchange, Hettys (Families and Carers group) and WAM, as well as out of area residential providers.

Heroin Addicts

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many heroin addicts are undergoing treatment in (a) England, (b) Nottinghamshire and (c) Bassetlaw.

Hazel Blears: holding answer 23 July 2002
	This information is not available in the form requested.
	We can provide data on the number of users presenting to drug misuse agencies (including both doctors and other agencies), with heroin as their main drug of misuse during the six month period ending 31 March 2001. These figures are shown in the table.
	
		Number of persons presenting for treatment at drug agencies, with heroin reported as the main drug of misuse, during the six month period ending 31 March 2001
		
			 Area Number 
		
		
			 England 22,431 
			 North Nottinghamshire HA 190 
			 Nottingham HA 109 
		
	
	Note:
	This data is derived from the Department of Health Statistical Bulletin "Statistics from the Regional Drug Misuse Databases for six months ending March 2001".
	The Office of National Statistics published the results of a special exercise that was carried out to estimate the number of drug users in treatment in England in 2000–01 ("Statistics from the Regional Drug Misuse Databases on drug misusers in treatment in England, 2000–2001" (2001). These are summarised in the table below.
	
		Number of drug misusers in treatment
		
			 Area Number 
		
		
			 England 118,522 
			 North Nottinghamshire HA 398 
			 Nottingham HA 900 
		
	
	Note:
	These figures are derived from the ONS analysis of data from the Regional Drug Misuse Databases for the six months ending March 2001 together with a census for April to September 2000.
	The majority of misusers above were attending community drug services. Sixty-seven per cent. of those drug misusers entering treatment in England for the six months ending March 2001 reported heroin as the main drug of misuse. The percentage of those "in treatment" with heroin as the main drug of misuse is not available

Heroin Addicts

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what method his Department uses to quantify the proportion of young people using heroin in Nottinghamshire.

Hazel Blears: holding answer 23 July 2002
	The local regional centre for the national drug treatment monitoring system collects information on people presenting for treatment and the drugs misused. Information is also collected at 31 March each year for clients in contact during the year (starting at 31 March 2002); this includes whether they are still in treatment.
	The national treatment agency for substance misuse (NTA) report that there is an estimate of the number of known young individuals with heroin addiction produced by the local drug action team (DAT). In 2001–02, the local DAT were aware of about 200 under 19s with a heroin addiction through reporting to them from the young peoples services in Mansfield and from COMPASS.

Heroin Addicts

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average waiting time for treatment for heroin addiction was in the last 12 months.

Hazel Blears: holding answer 23 July 2002
	Information provided to the national treatment agency (NTA) for substance misuse on waiting times (the number of weeks from when a drug user presents for treatment, to when appropriate services commence) in December 2001 is broken down by type of treatment rather than main drug of misuse. However the majority of all individuals entering treatment report heroin as their main drug of misuse. The waiting time information from the drug action team templates is shown in the table below.
	
		Average Waiting Time by Modality of Treatment for England in December 2001
		
			 Treatment modality Average waiting time 
		
		
			 Inpatient detoxification 12 weeks 
			 Specialist prescribing 14.1 weeks 
			 GP prescribing 5.7 weeks 
			 Counselling 7.6 weeks 
			 Day care 6 weeks 
			 Residential rehabilitation 9.1 weeks 
		
	
	Notes:
	From drug action team template returns based on a "snapshot" taken in December 2001.

Drug Action Teams

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Health on what basis funds are distributed between the drug action teams in England.

Hazel Blears: holding answer 23 July 2002
	£191.2 million for drugs misuse treatment services has been allocated to health authorities (HAs) in 2002–03, this represents an increase of £51.5 million or 36.9 per cent. over 2001–02, through the pooled treatment budget.
	Allocations to HAs in 2002–03 for drugs misuse treatment services through the pooled treatment budget were informed by a new weighted capitation formula. This formula weights populations of 15–44 year olds for utilisation rates by age and sex, additional need and the market forces factor. All HAs received an increase of at least 30 per cent. over their allocation for 2001–02. The Department provided indicative allocations to drug action team level, but the final decision on allocations lies with the HA.
	It should also be noted that additional funding from mainstream health budgets, social services community care budgets and the treatment element of the arrest referral scheme budget are allocated for drug treatment services at local level.

Asthma

Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether primary care trusts will be required to audit the number of asthma deaths; and if he will make a statement.

Jacqui Smith: holding answer 23 July 2002
	There are currently no plans to require primary care trusts to audit the number of asthma deaths.
	The number of deaths from asthma is gradually declining. The Department's hospital episode statistics show in-hospital deaths, where the patient's main diagnosis was asthma, falling from 301 in 1998–99 to 213 in 2000–01.
	The Office for National Statistics report that the international classification of disease, ICD9 493 (Asthma) recorded for England and Wales that in 1998 there were 1,366 deaths caused by asthma and by 2000 that had fallen to 1,272 deaths.

Asthma

Ashok Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent discussions he has had with the Medical Research Council to give further priority to research into asthma; and if he will make a statement.

Jacqui Smith: holding answer 23 July 2002
	Asthma is a priority area for the Medical Research Council (MRC) and it supports a wide range of research projects looking at asthma ranging from basic research to applied clinical studies. The MRC spend in the area in 2000–01 was approximately £3 million. Under the terms of the Concordat, the Health Departments will be meeting with the MRC later this year. Respiratory disease will be a major item for discussion at this meeting.

Epilepsy

Candy Atherton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  whether he plans to address the information and support needs of bereaved families affected by SUDEP and other epilepsy deaths following the evidence of the National Sentinel Audit of Epilepsy-Related Death;
	(2)  what steps the Government are taking to ensure epilepsy sufferers receive regular checks on health and medication;
	(3)  whether steps are being taken to set a national target for reduction of epilepsy deaths;
	(4)  if implementation of the action plan addressing findings of the National Audit of Epilepsy-Related Death will include specific action by primary care trusts;
	(5)  what steps his Department is taking to promote awareness of epilepsy and the medical risks associated with it;
	(6)  whether the Home Office is being consulted on the action plan to address the finding in the National Audit of Epilepsy-related Death on the adequacy of post-mortem investigations;
	(7)  what plans there are for implementation of the action plan addressing the findings of the National Audit of Epilepsy-Related Death; and what funding will be made available for this purpose;
	(8)  what plans he has to address the findings of the epilepsy deaths report on the adequacy of post-mortem investigations;
	(9)  what measures his Department is taking to improve information and medical training for epilepsy sufferers and carers of people with epilepsy.

Jacqui Smith: In May 2002, we welcomed the publication of the Government funded national sentinel audit of epilepsy-related death. The audit looked at investigations into epilepsy deaths, care provided prior to death and contact with bereaved families. We have given a commitment to consider in full the recommendations of the audit and to develop an action plan later this year to address the key issues. It will need to take account of and feed into a range of other initiatives including the national service framework for long term conditions (NSF), which will have a focus on neurological conditions such as epilepsy. We expect to meet with the epilepsy voluntary organisations shortly, and will consult with others as appropriate.
	The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) published a summary report of the audit. The publication draws the attention of local National Health Service clinicians and organisations to the need to establish or review policies and practices regarding the management of epilepsy and epilepsy related deaths.
	The Department is also undertaking a range of other initiatives to improve services for the care and management of people with epilepsy. For example, we have:
	Asked NICE to develop a clinical guideline, due in summer 2004, for the diagnosis, management and treatment of epilepsy to help address widespread variations in clinical practice and contribute to the improvement of services. This will be supported by a technology appraisal, due autumn 2003, of the clinical and cost effectiveness of new anti-epileptic drugs in children and adults, to help promote appropriate uptake and equitable access.
	Announced that the NSF for long term conditions is expected to develop standards of care for specific neurological conditions, including epilepsy. The NSF is currently planned for publication in 2004 and implementation is expected to start from 2005.
	Developed the expert patients programme, which aims to provide training in self-management skills for people with long term chronic conditions. The first pilot phase will include people with epilepsy.
	Provided funding to the Joint Epilepsy Council (JEC) to develop its National Statement of Good Practice for the Treatment and Care of People who have Epilepsy, which was published in May 2002. The statement makes a series of recommendations for good quality epilepsy services. It is intended to facilitate commissioning and will be of use to NHS purchasers, providers and service users.
	Provided funding to the National Society for Epilepsy for its Living Well Project. The project aims to promote independent living by providing locally based short-term courses for people with epilepsy to develop self-help and self-management techniques.
	Local health and social care organisations are responsible for planning and providing services for people with epilepsy, including the frequency of contact. The recently announced budget settlements for the NHS, representing an annual average increase of 7.5 per cent. above inflation over the five years 2003–04 to 2007–08, and personal social services (PSS), representing an annual average increase of 6.0 per cent. above inflation over the three years 2003–04 to 2005–06, will provide the investment needed to support the services which best meet patients' and users' needs.

Epilepsy

Candy Atherton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps the Government are taking to train and promote (a) neurologists and (b) nurses with specialism in epilepsy.

Jacqui Smith: In the 2002 budget the Government set a target of recruiting 35,000 nurses, 15,000 doctors and 35,000 scientists and therapists. They will become part of the continuing drive to recruit more health professionals for the National Health Service.
	The Department fully supports the need for an increase in the number of neurologists. Recommendations by the medical workforce review team are for the numbers of consultants in neurology to grow by some 50 per cent. by 2010, from 326 in 2001 to 496 in 2010, and some of those consultants may choose to specialise in epilepsy.
	There are already about 100 epilepsy specialist nursing posts which have been developed in both hospital and community settings. Primary care trusts will be able to decide about the level of future demand in this area. They are best placed to understand local health needs and commission services to meet them.

Autism

Andrew Hunter: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of recent research into the measles virus and the spinal fluid of autistic children; if he will commission further research into this issue; and if he will make a statement.

Hazel Blears: All scientists who feel they have some important research findings should publish their work in a peer-review journal and subject it to scrutiny by fellow scientists. The Government are not aware that this study has been published and therefore are unable to make any assessment or commission any further research.

Autism

Jimmy Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much has been spent on research into autism since 1997; and what plans he has to increase money into research.

Jacqui Smith: The Medical Research Council (MRC) (which is a non-departmental public body which receives its grant-in-aid from the Department of Trade and Industry via the Office of Science and Technology) is the main public sector body which funds research into autism. The MRC spend on autism since 1997 has been:
	
		
			  
		
		
			 1997–98 £905,000 
			 1998–99 £1,041,000 
			 1999–2000 £1,114,000 
			 2000–01 £1,182,000 
			 2001–02 £1,372,000 
		
	
	I announced on 14 February the allocation of a further £2.5 million to the MRC for autism research. This will complement and add to the MRC's current support for research in this field. The MRC welcomes high quality applications for support in any scientific area which will further our understanding of autism, and especially those areas which were highlighted in their review.

Autism

Jimmy Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much money was spent in the NHS on the treatment of autism in the last 12 months for which figures are available; and what plans he has to increase the level of services available.

Jacqui Smith: National Health Service expenditure on the treatment of autism is not separately identified. Our increased investment in health, education and personal social services in England will benefit people with autism. It is for health authorities, in partnership with primary care trusts and other local stakeholders, to determine how best to use their funds to meet national and local priorities for improving health, tackling health inequalities and modernising services.

Autism

Jimmy Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assistance his Department has given to (a) the Scottish Society for Autism and (b) other organisations helping people with autism in the last 12 months for which figures are available.

Jacqui Smith: Under the Section 64 General Scheme of Grants to Voluntary Organisations, the Department issues funds to further its objectives in the health and social care fields in England. We have not funded the Scottish Society for Autism. Three national autistic society projects have received funding in the last 12 months:
	
		
			 Project Amount 
		
		
			 Independence and Autism: Good Practice for Service Providers £49,000 
			 Help—Parental Training £46,000 
			 Asperger's Syndrome Project £40,000

Autism

Andrew Hunter: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of recent research into the impact on autistic children of a second dose of MMR.

Hazel Blears: We are not aware of any systematic study looking at whether a second dose of MMR has an impact on the rate of autism in children. However, in a recent paper by Farrington et al (2001) (full reference below) they looked at regression in children with autism and found no relationship to either the first or second dose of MMR. This paper was published in a peer review journal.
	Full reference—Farrington CP, Miller E. and Taylor B. MMR. and autism: further evidence against a causal association. Vaccine 19 (2001) 3632–3635. A copy has been placed in the Library.

Sport

Richard Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  if he will make a statement about funding that his Department makes available for sports projects which improve public health;
	(2)  if he will make a statement on the role of sport and physical recreation within plans to improve public health;
	(3)  what guidance is available to primary care trusts on developing partnerships with sport and recreation bodies; and if he will encourage the formation of such partnerships.

Hazel Blears: Increasing participation in sport and physical recreation has an important role to play in raising the rates of physical activity and improving public health. The importance of physical activity is recognised in the NHS Plan and national service frameworks. The national service framework (NSF) for coronary heart disease (CHD) requires the National Health Service, working closely with local authorities, to develop local programmes of effective policies on increasing physical activity.
	The Health Development Agency has issued guidance to support the preventive aspects of the NSF for CHD. The document contained examples of effective interventions and set out who should be involved in the development of these programmes, including sport and leisure partners. Last year, we also published a national quality assurance framework for exercise referral systems. These schemes rely on close liaison and partnership working between health and leisure professionals.
	We recently announced the launch of a new £2.5 million programme on exercise, which is being developed with Sport England and the Countryside Agency. The work forms part of a partnership between the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, the Department of Education and Skills and the Department of Health. The money will be used to set up nine pilots, based in neighbourhood renewal areas, which will test out different community approaches, including sports and active recreation projects, to increasing physical activity.

Mount Vernon Hospital

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what action he is taking to improve the provision of services at Mount Vernon Hospital.

John Hutton: The Hillingdon Hospital National Health Service Trust has invested £200,000 in ward staff since assuming responsibility for services at Mount Vernon in 1999.
	The Trust has employed additional registered medical officers to ensure 24-hour cover. Additional nursing staff have been recruited. A dedicated urology staff grade nurse works at Mount Vernon holding additional clinics and operating lists weekly. The trust has appointed an additional orthopaedic surgeon and a general surgeon during the last year to work mainly on the Mount Vernon site. All Hillingdon surgical and orthopaedic consultants have an outpatient session and at least one operating session at Mount Vernon.
	The trust has invested £120,000 in a laminar air-flow system for the orthopaedic theatre to minimise the risk of infection and has invested £100,000 in new instrumentation.
	Two additional linacs are to be commissioned at Mount Vernon Cancer Centre in July 2002, and one replacement and two additional linacs are planned over the next two to three years. Two linacs commissioned this year will cost in the region of £1.67 million, excluding accommodation costs. The three further linacs will cost approximately £3 million again excluding accommodation costs. Further investment is planned to maintain the fabric of the building and for equipment replacement as it reaches the end of useful life.

Rehabilitation

Liam Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what rehabilitation services are offered to former coalminers and steelworkers in South Yorkshire.

Jacqui Smith: Due to the prevalence of respiratory and other industrial related diseases in the South Yorkshire population, local health services have increased contact with such diseases. Practitioners therefore have a heightened awareness of the symptoms of such diseases and are able to treat and refer to specialist care where appropriate.

Committee Mandates

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the mandate of the Committee on the action programme on rare diseases in the framework of the action plan for public health is; how many times it has met over the last 12 months; what the United Kingdom representation on it is; what the annual cost of its work is to public funds; if he will list the items currently under its consideration; if he will take steps to increase its accountability and transparency to Parliament; and if he will make a statement.

Hazel Blears: The Programme of Community Action on Rare Diseases was set up in accordance with Article 5(2) of Decision 1295–1299/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 1999.
	The aim of the programme is to contribute, in coordination with other community measures, towards ensuring a high level of health protection in relation to rare diseases by improving knowledge, for example by promoting the setting-up of a coherent and complementary European information network on rare diseases, and facilitating access to information about these diseases, in particular for health professionals, researchers and those affected directly or indirectly by these diseases, by encouraging and strengthening transnational cooperation between voluntary and professional support groups for those concerned, and by ensuring optimimum handling of clusters and by promoting the surveillance of rare diseases.
	The Committee consists of two representatives from each Member State, although both do not always attend. The Committee is chaired by the Commission. The Committee is required to deliver its opinion on draft measures submitted to it by the Commission.
	The Committee has met twice in the last 12 months.
	Costs to public funds were minimal, meetings last one day, the commission pay the travel costs of nominated representatives, UK Departments are required to pay subsistence and UK travel costs.
	Details about the Committee, the programme and funded projects can be found on Europa, the EU on-line website: http://europa.eu.int/comm/health/index en.html
	Together with Member States, the Commission is currently conducting a review to bring existing legislation on the conduct of comitology committees into line with Council Decision 1999/468/EC, to
	"simplify the requirements for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission".
	As an obligation to this Decision, the Commission undertook to publish an annual report on the working of committees. The first report was deposited in the Libraries of both Houses on 26 February 2002 (Com (2001) 783 Final).
	As part of the review process, the UK Government have encouraged the Commission to produce and maintain an electronic database of every comitology committee, its agendas and recent actions, to be accessible through its website.

Committee Mandates

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the mandate of the Committee for the implementation of the Decision to set up a network for the epidemiological surveillance and control of communicable diseases is; how many times it has met over the last 12 months; what the United Kingdom representation on it is; what the annual cost of its work is to public funds; if he will list the items currently under its consideration; if he will take steps to increase its accountability and transparency to Parliament; and if he will make a statement.

Hazel Blears: The Committee for the European Network for the Epidemiological Surveillance and Control of Communicable Diseases was set up in accordance with Article 7 of Decision 2119/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council setting up the Network, for the purposes of implementing the Decision.
	The Committee consists of two representatives from each Member State: one representing the competent public health authority and the other the national body with responsibility for surveillance of communicable diseases. For the UK, this comprises representatives from the Department of Health and the Public Health Laboratory Service Communicable Diseases Surveillance Centre. The Committee is chaired by the Commission. The Committee is required to deliver its opinion on draft measures submitted to it by the Commission.
	The Committee has met four times in the last 12 months.
	Costs to public funds were minimal, meetings last one day, the commission pay the travel costs of nominated representatives, UK Departments are required to pay subsistence and UK travel costs.
	Together with Member States, the Commission is currently conducting a review to bring existing legislation on the conduct of comitology committees into line with Council Decision 1999/468/EC, to
	"simplify the requirements for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission".
	As an obligation to this Decision, the Commission undertook to publish an annual report on the working of committees. The first report was deposited in the Libraries of both Houses on 26 February 2002 (Com (2001) 783 Final).
	As part of the review process, the UK Government have encouraged the Commission to produce and maintain an electronic database of every comitology committee, its agendas and recent actions, to be accessible through its website.

Products of Animal Origin

David Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what discussions he has had concerning the European Commission's draft regulation on official controls on Products of Animal Origin; and if he will make a statement.

Hazel Blears: holding answer 17 June 2002
	The European Commission's proposal for a Regulation on official controls on products of animal origin is currently under discussion. The first meeting in Council Working Group took place between 23 and 24 July 2002. The Food Standards Agency (FSA) is leading negotiations on behalf of the UK. The FSA will be writing to stakeholders to advise them of the issues arising following this meeting and a copy of this letter will be placed in the Library.

Correspondence

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when the hon. Member for North Norfolk will receive a reply to his letter to the Chairman of the Food Standards Agency dated 30 January.

Hazel Blears: holding answer 17 June 2002
	I replied to the hon. Member on 24 June 2002.

Correspondence

Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he intends to reply to the letter to him dated 3 May from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Mr. A. Starkie.

Alan Milburn: I refer my right hon. Friend to the reply I gave him on 3 July at column 451W.

Correspondence

Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he will reply to the letters from the hon. Member for the Isle of Wight (Mr. Turner) dated 4 February and 22 April to the Under-Secretary of State for Health, the hon. Member for Salford (Ms Blears); and what the reason is for the delay in replying.

David Lammy: Replies were sent on 16 July and 6 August. The issues raised in the hon. Member's correspondence were of a complex nature and required liasing with third parties to provide information.

Frictional Discharge

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, 
	(1)  when he expects only frictional levels of delayed discharge to be achieved;
	(2)  how many people he estimates have experienced frictional discharge for each quarter of the last year; and how many he expects to experience frictional discharge in the next year.

Jacqui Smith: holding answer 27 June 2002
	The Government's target is to end widespread delayed discharges by 2004.
	The Government are determined to continue to make reducing delayed discharge a priority area. This is the key to getting the right care, in the right place, at the right time for all patients. Under this year's budget, overall social services funding will increase by six per cent. and we intend to bring forward legislation to ensure that good partnership working between the National Health Service and local authority social services reduces the number of delays even further.

Wanless Report

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what action he has taken to implement the recommendations of the Wanless report.

John Hutton: My right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer's Budget statement on 17 April 2002 announced unprecedented annual average increases for the National Health Service in England of 7.3 per cent. per annum over five years from 2003–04 to 2007–08, on the basis of stage 1 resource budgeting. This is the level of increase recommended by the Wanless report under its "fully engaged" scenario. We are currently considering how best to take forward the other recommendations of the Wanless report.

Wanless Report

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to undertake further work as part of a whole systems approach to analysing and modelling health and social care as set out in the Wanless report, paragraph 1.12.

Jacqui Smith: Further requirements for analysis will be considered as part of the normal process of policy development.

Diagnostic and Treatment Centres

John Randall: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if a hospital previously scheduled to be built under a PFI scheme will be eligible to apply for partial funding under the diagnostic and treatment centre funding programme.

John Hutton: We are committed to an ambitious programme of new Diagnosis and Treatment Centres (DTCs). Some are on course to be developed as part of PFI projects, others through the use of public capital. We expect local National Health Service authorities to develop proposals based on sources of funding which offer the best value for money and speed of implementation. The ability to provide public funding for a part of a PFI scheme will depend on the degree of separability (and inter-dependence) of the DTC elements from the rest of the scheme.

Smallpox Vaccine

Henry Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the smallpox contract awarded to Powderject and supplied by Bavarian Nordic is to be subcontracted to IDT.

John Hutton: The contract has been awarded to PowderJect. Therefore, PowderJect is responsible for the supply of properly manufactured vaccine that meets our specific requirements.
	Under the terms of this contract, the smallpox vaccine will be manufactured in Germany by Impfstoffwerke Dessau Tornav GmbH (IDT).

Smallpox Vaccine

Henry Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how long he estimates it would have taken to complete the tendering process for the smallpox vaccine order if the usual tendering process had been used.

John Hutton: If the usual open tendering processes had been used for the procurement of smallpox vaccine, the complete process is likely to have taken as long as four to five months to complete. Potential suppliers must first submit an expression of interest in response to the 37-day advertisement in the Official Journal of European Communities and must accompany that expression with evidence requested by the contracting organisation. From those who satisfy this first stage, tenders would be invited from some or all, and a period of 40 days is usually allowed for potential bidders to submit bids. There then follows a period during which the tenders are evaluated, terms agreed and a contract is prepared.

Public Consultations

Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the public consultations undertaken by his Department since 1997, indicating for each consultation (a) if copies were available online, (b) if copies were available in print, (c) the date the time period given for responses opened and (d) the date the time period given for responses closed.

David Lammy: Data are only available from 2001 onwards. All consultation material is available ion printed form by request to the Department and all consultations are posted on the Department's website. Details of the consultations undertaken since 2001 were provided in the answer give to the hon. Member for the Isle of Wight (Mr. Turner) on Tuesday 23 July 2002, Official Report, column 1096W.

Public Consultations

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the public consultations undertaken by his Department since 8 June 2001, indicating the (a) length and (b) number of responses received in each case.

David Lammy: I refer the hon. Member to the response given to the hon. Member for the Isle of Wight (Mr. Turner) on Tuesday 23 July 2002, Official Report, column 1096W.

Finished Consultant Episodes

Paul Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the underlying reasons are for the change in the number of finished consultant episodes between 1997 and 2001 for the treatment of (a) malignant neoplasm of lip, (b) Kaposi's sarcoma, (c) leukaemias of specified and unspecified cell types, (d) carcinoma in situ of cervix uteri, (e) benign neoplasm of mouth and pharynx and (f) benign neoplasm of bone and articular cartilage; and if he will make a statement.

Hazel Blears: The figures for finished consultant episodes in 1996–97 and 2000–01 are shown in the table. The hospital episode statistics database does not hold any information on underlying reasons for the change in figures.
	
		Finished consultant episodes (FCEs) by main diagnosis NHS Hospitals, England 1996–97 and 2000–01
		
			  1996–97 2000–2001 
		
		
			 Malignant neoplasm of lip 448 399 
			 Kaposi's sarcoma 172 81 
			 Leukaemias of specified and unspecified cell types 1,421 1,109 
			 Carcinoma in situ of cervix uteri 13,955 10,835 
			 Benign neoplasm of mouth and pharynx 2,551 2,429 
			 Benign neoplasm of bone and articular cartridge 2,134 2,054 
		
	
	Notes:
	An FCE is defined as a period of patient care under one consultant in one health care provider. The figures do not represent the number of patients, as one person may have several episodes within the year.
	The primary diagnosis is the first of seven diagnosis fields in the HES data set, and provides the main reason why the patient was in hospital.
	Data for 1996–97 are adjusted for both coverage and unknown/invalid clinical data; 2000–01 figures are not yet adjusted for shortfalls.
	Source:
	Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), Department of Health

UK Clinical Products Reference Source

Oliver Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether he intends to put out to tender the maintenance of the UK Clinical Products Reference Source.

David Lammy: holding answer 8 July 2002
	The UK Standard Clinical Products Reference Source will comprise four distinct elements. Of these, two are already in production: The SNOMED CT drug core, under the terms of the contract between the Department and the College of American Pathologists, and the primary care drug dictionary, on behalf of the Department by the prescription pricing authority.
	The remaining two elements are the secondary care drug dictionary and the medical devices dictionary. I can confirm that the maintenance of both these dictionaries will be undertaken in accordance with public procurement European Union and Official Journal of the European Communities regulations and with the National Health Service information authority's procedures for the letting of contracts.

NHS IT Procurement

Brian White: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what his policy is towards using open source software; and what percentage is used in his Department.

Hazel Blears: The Department does not deploy open source software on its information technology network and the current policy is not to use open source software.

NHS IT Procurement

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether he intends to require NHS trusts in the Eastern region to follow the south-west NHS IT procurement model.

David Lammy: The organisations in the former eastern region will be expected to follow the procurement process agreed as part of the national implementation programme for information technology in the National Health Service, announced in June 2002.

NHS IT Procurement

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether he intends to introduce a single procurement process for electronic patient record systems for the Thames Valley, Kent and Birmingham area NHS trusts.

David Lammy: The organisations in Thames Valley, Kent and Birmingham will be expected to follow the procurement process agreed as part of the national implementation programme for information technology in the National Health Service, announced by Ministers in June 2002.

NHS IT Procurement

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many NHS Executive officials directly involved in the establishment of single procurement arrangements for NHS trusts in the south-west were previously involved in (a) development and (b) management of the Hospital Information Support Systems initiative.

David Lammy: One Departmental official, previously involved with the hospital information support systems initiative, was involved in the initiation of the south west regional procurement process. This official played no part in the project team, and left the project at the time the Official Journal of the European Commission was published. The south west regional procurement process has been run by National Health Service staff, with a project support office hosted by a health authority.

NHS IT Procurement

Oliver Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what steps he will take to ensure the fairness and transparency of the procurement processes to be used in implementation of the new NHS ICT strategy;
	(2)  whose responsibility it will be to (a) choose and (b) enter into contracts with specific application suppliers from the accredited lists of the new NHS ICT programme; and if he will make a statement as to his Department's involvement in such decisions;
	(3)  by what process NHS ICT suppliers will be shortlisted nationally for accreditation;
	(4)  what progress has been made concerning the short list of prime contractors to implement the new NHS ICT programme;
	(5)  what procurement processes will be used for the implementation of the new NHS ICT strategy;
	(6)  What role value for money will play in choosing ICT preferred suppliers to implement the new NHS ICT strategy.

David Lammy: holding answer 8 July 2002
	We are currently developing with colleagues in the National Health Service Purchasing and Supply Agency a procurement strategy to facilitate the acquisition of the necessary goods and services to support "Delivering 21 Century IT" for the NHS. We will publish outline details of the new procurement strategy in the near future.
	Procurements are underway in many parts of the country to deliver electronic patient records and other systems and these procurements need to proceed. All public sector procurements have to follow the principle of best value, rather than cheapest price.
	Strict rules govern the procurement of goods and services for the public services, including rules published in European Union Directives, by Her Majesty's Treasury and the Department. These will be adhered to adhered to in all cases.

Sausage Casings

David Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what estimate he has made of the impact on costs to the sausage industry of a ban on the use of natural sausage casings;
	(2)  what assessment he has made of the impact on the cost base of British abattoirs of a ban on the use of natural sausage casings.

Hazel Blears: holding answer 9 July 2002
	I am advised by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) that the basis of their recommendation to the European Commission that sheep intestine be banned as specified risk material is outlined in a report compiled by a group of stakeholders endorsed by the board of the FSA on 13 June 2002. The report considers the potential risk reduction, costs and practicability of a range of further precautionary measures against the theoretical risk of BSE in sheep. Estimates provided by the Meat and Livestock Commission, one of the stakeholders on the group, indicate that the turnover of the sheep sausage casings sector is £24 million per annum, and that the loss of income to licensed abattoirs from the sales of sheep intestine to the sausage casings industry would be approximately £6.5 million per annum. No analysis has been made of the compensating increase in turnover for other suppliers that could arise if other sausage casings were to be substituted for those made from sheep intestines.

Sausage Casings

David Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what his policy is on the traceability of natural sausage casings imported into the EU from third countries.

Hazel Blears: holding answer 9 July
	I am advised by the Food Standards Agency that all imports of meat and meat products from third countries must come from establishments which are approved or authorised by the European Commission and which satisfy the health conditions set out in the relevant EC legislation.
	Third country imports must enter the European Union through a designated border inspection post, where they are subject to documentary and physical checks. Consignments must be accompanied by commercial documentation indicating the nature of the product, and the name and identification number of the originating plant. EU establishments receiving consignments of products such as natural animal casings are required to keep the accompanying commercial documents for at least one year after receipt and make them available on request to the enforcement authority.
	These arrangements provide traceability of a consignment of natural animal casings back to the plant of origin.
	In addition, meat and meat products containing sheep material imported from third countries must be accompanied by a veterinary declaration certifying that the product does not contain, nor is it derived from, specified risk material.

Fat Content (Menus)

Brian Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has for issuing regulations on guidance on fat content on menus in restaurants in the UK in a similar way to that on food bought in supermarkets.

Hazel Blears: holding answer 22 July 2002
	I have no such plans. The Food Standards Agency (FSA) is exploring practical ways to help those who wish to choose a healthy diet to select appropriate options when eating out. The FSA has commissioned the British Nutrition Foundation to examine practice in other countries and relevant research, and to identify actions it might take. The FSA plans to publish the report of this study and discuss the recommendations it makes in detail with interested parties later this year.

Food

Howard Stoate: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what measures he is taking to improve access to fresh and affordable food and produce in the most socially deprived communities.

Hazel Blears: We have in place major programmes to tackle the inequalities that exist in access to healthy food. This includes a Welfare Food Scheme that provides milk for low-income families and a Five-a-Day Programme to increase access to, and availability of fruit and vegetables. Following a successful pilots stage, the new opportunities fund is providing £10 million to set up sixty-six Five-a-day community programmes led by primary care trusts based in deprived areas. A further £42 million is being invested to extend the National School Fruit Scheme to cover over 1 million children from 2002 to 2004.

Food

Debra Shipley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent research he has carried out on the effects of (a) salt and (b) fat in the diet of (i) pre-school and (ii) school age children.

Hazel Blears: The Department has not funded research specifically on the effects of salt and fat in the diet of pre-school and school aged children. However a range of projects has been funded looking at the influence of children's eating habits and other childhood factors impacting on health in later life, such as in the development of adult obesity. The Government have also commissioned national diet and nutrition surveys (NDNS) which provide information on the diet, individual nutrient intakes and nutritional status of the population including pre-school and school aged children. The NDNS for children aged one and a half to four and a half years was published in 1995 and the survey on young people aged four to eighteen years in 2000. Copies are available in the Library.
	We are committed in the NHS Plan to working with the Food Standards Agency and the food industry to improve the overall balance of the diet including reductions in the salt, fat and sugar content of processed foods.

Food Safety

Joan Ruddock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the advice of the Deputy Chief Medical Officer, issued in MAFF News Release 83/97 and in MAFF Food Safety Information Bulletin December 1998, on preparation of fruit and vegetables for small children, has been revoked; and what his Department's policy is on the advice of the Food Standards Agency that fruit and vegetables do not need to be peeled before being given to young children in order to reduce pesticide residues.

Hazel Blears: The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has advised that washing or peeling fruit and vegetables is not required as a protection against pesticide residues (issued on the FSA's website, www.food.gov.uk, on 26 March 2002). However, the FSA continues to advise that it is sensible to wash fruit and vegetables before eating for reasons of general food hygiene.
	This follows the FSA's request to the Advisory Committee on Pesticides (ACP) to reconsider the then Deputy Chief Medical Officer's (CMO) advice to consumers about washing and peeling fruit and vegetables in relation to pesticide residues. The ACP assured the Agency and the Department that there are no active substances currently in use where an assumption about the need for washing and peeling was made as part of their approval. The ACP concluded that washing or peeling fruit and vegetables is not required as a protection against pesticide residues and this effectively supersedes the old advice.
	The FSA's advice is that when pesticide residues are found in fruit and vegetables, in the vast majority of cases they do not give rise to any health concerns. Where, very occasionally a residue is found which could lead to the acceptable daily intake for the pesticide concerned being exceeded the FSA demands immediate action to remove that risk.

Obesity

Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how he plans to reduce levels of childhood obesity.

Hazel Blears: Both physical activity and eating habits play a role in overweight and obesity. We have put in place major cross-government programmes of work to ensure that children have access to a healthy diet, and have opportunities to be physically active. This includes £581 million from the new opportunities fund for a new physical education (PE) and sports programme and £42 million to extend the National School Fruit Scheme.
	The national healthy school standard, part of the healthy school programme, contains a set of criteria relating to physical activity, and also supports the two hours PE entitlement announced in January 2001. £120 million will support the school sport co-ordinator programme, setting up a network of 1,000 co-ordinators.

Obesity

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what arrangements are in place to raise awareness about the problem of obesity; what recent representations he has received about obesity; and if he will make a statement.

Hazel Blears: There are a variety of programmes on promoting healthy eating and physical activity, and reducing overweight and obesity which are being developed as part of the national service framework for coronary heart disease. This includes local Five-a-Day community initiatives, based in deprived areas, which provide education about the health benefits of fruit and vegetables, as well as improved access and availability. To increase awareness of the importance of diet and exercise among children, we have a healthy schools programme that aims to promote better health for all children and young people through education on a range of issues.
	The Government also acknowledge the setting up of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Obesity, which will increase political and wider public attention to the issue. There are other organisations and charities such as the British dietetic association, the obesity awareness and solutions trust and weight concern who are raising awareness about the problem of obesity and are supported through the Department's Section 64 Grant Scheme.

Traumatic Brain Injury

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the accuracy of using ICD 10 codes to record traumatic brain injury in hospital accident and emergency departments; and if he will make a statement.

David Lammy: The accident and emergency departments rarely use ICD-10 to record patients. The ICD-10 codes are generally used for admitted patients (either in-patients or day cases) The codes within ICD-10 for traumatic brain injury would be: an unspecified brain injury is S06.9 Intracranial injury, unspecified.
	However there are other codes encompassing brain injuries:
	S06.—Intracranial injury
	S09.7 Multiple injuries of head
	T06.0 Injuries of brain and cranial nerves with injuries of nerves and spinal cord at neck level

Newborn Hearing Screening Programme

James Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which sites have been selected for the second phase of the newborn hearing screening programme; and how he intends to publicise them.

Jacqui Smith: The final detail for the second phase of the newborn hearing screening programme is near to agreement. Once this has been agreed the sites will be informed. Full details of the sites will be available on the National Screening Committee's website.

Child Protection

Jimmy Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will consider proposals from the NSPCC for the creation of a child safeguarding board and the establishment of multi-agency child safeguarding teams to increase the effectiveness of professionals working together.

Jacqui Smith: Evidence and submissions relating to issues raised by the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children campaign have been heard by the Victoria Climbié Inquiry. The Government expect to receive the Inquiry's report later this year. The Inquiry's recommendations, will be given full and proper consideration by the Government.

Child Protection

Jimmy Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what funding has been given to the child protection system in each year since 1997.

Jacqui Smith: It is for individual councils with social services responsibilities and National Health Service bodies to decide, in the light of their priorities, how much to spend on child protection services. Other statutory agencies, such as the police and education services, also commit resources to meeting their child protection responsibilities, while a number of voluntary organisations also provide child protection services.
	However between 1996–97 and 2002–03 the Government increased social services funding by more than 20 per cent. in real terms and will make further annual average real terms increases available of 6 per cent. between 2003–04 and 2005–06.

Child Protection

Jimmy Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what measures the Government have taken (a) to make it easier for children to report abuse and neglect and (b) to raise public awareness of child abuse.

Jacqui Smith: The Government have revised and widely distributed their child protection guidance Working Together to Safeguard Children. This document sets out how all agencies and professionals should work together to promote children's welfare and protect them from abuse and neglect. It is addressed to those who work in the health and education services, the police, social services, the probation service, and others whose work brings them into contact with children and families. All those who work with children and families are expected to retain a clear focus on the welfare of the child and be alert to, and know how to respond quickly and decisively to, potential indicators of abuse and neglect. This greater awareness should make it easier for children to be heard when they report abuse and neglect.
	In addition, a range of new mechanisms have been introduced that make it easier for children to report abuse and neglect. These include:
	the appointment of the first ever Children's Rights Director for England—Roger Morgan—to act as a powerful champion for some of the most vulnerable children in our country, and to monitor and review the effectiveness of the arrangements in relation to dealing with complaints and representations made by, or on behalf of, children about regulated children's services.
	the Education Act 2002, which places a statutory requirement on Local Education Authorities and the governing bodies of schools and further education institutions to have arrangements to ensure that their functions are exercised with a view to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, and to have regard to guidance issued by my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State when drawing up those arrangements. These new duties will reinforce schools' responsibility to have effective arrangements for identifying and responding to signs of neglect and abuse.
	the participation of children and young people in day to day decision making as a key principle underpinning the Government's Quality Protects Programme. Objective 8 of the Government's objectives for children's social services says that local authorities should enhance the involvement of young people in the planning and delivery of services, and in decisions which affect their daily lives, including giving children and young people access to independent advocacy services and mechanisms for speeding up the complaints procedure.
	The Government are also providing funding to ChildLine, which was established to listen to children and young people and to offer them counselling, information, support and protection.
	Area child protection committees are responsible for deciding what child protection information and advice to make available to members of their local community. However, leaflets advising adults what to do when they have concerns about the welfare of a child or that a child may be suffering, or at risk of suffering, abuse or neglect have also been produced on a national basis by a number of voluntary organisations. These include the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children's Handle with Care (about the dangers of shaking babies) and Partners in Protecting Children. In addition, there are a number of leaflets which provide advice to children, such as Kidscape's Stop Bullying and You Can Beat Bullying.

Care Standards Act

Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what provisions of the Care Stadards Act 2000 have come into force; and when the other parts will come into force.

Jacqui Smith: The majority of the Care Standards Act has already come into force. The details are set out in The Care Standards Act 2000 (Commencement No. 15 (England) and Transitional Provisions) (Amendment) Order 2002 (SI 2002 No. 1790 (C.55)).
	The main provisions which have yet to come into force are those in Part VII of the Act which place a duty on my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State to keep a list of individuals who are considered to be unsuitable to work with vulnerable adults. This is due to be brought into force in January 2003.
	Certain provisions in Part IV of the Act concerning the registration and training of social workers have yet to come into force. They are due to come into force before 1 April 2003.
	There are also provisions in the Act to extend certain provisions to other services and establishments. These will only be activated when it is considered to be appropriate and there is no fixed timescale for bringing them into force.

Housing Tsar

Oliver Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many low-cost housing units for nurses in London have been found by the Department's housing tsar; and how many are now occupied by nurses.

John Hutton: holding answer 11 July 2002
	The National Health Service housing co-ordinator was appointed by NHS Estates in April 2000. He has a target of facilitating access to an additional 2,000 units of affordable accommodation for nurses in London by July 2003 either by directly contracting or assisting NHS trusts in negotiations. The current position is that agreements have been reached for 1997 additional units. Of this figure, 1051 are available but 389 units have only recently been opened and occupancy is being built up.
	The Department's housing co-ordinator has also been directly involved in negotiating 50 per cent. of the total starter home initiative budget allocation. This should enable approximately 5,000 staff NHS staff to gain a foothold on the property ladder by 2004. Assistance is in the form of equity loans, interest free loans and shared ownership.
	[This information is correct as at Friday 2 August 2002]

Primary Care Trusts

Janet Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidelines are issued to primary care trusts about the employment of officers responsible for establishing PFI initiatives.

John Hutton: The Department issued guidance in 1999 under "Public Private Partnerships in the National Health Service: The Private Finance Initiative—Good Practice". This contains specific instructions for all National Health Service trusts for appointing a project director, his team and their roles and responsibilities.

Pesticides

Joan Ruddock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if it is the aim of his Department to encourage ways of improving the use of pesticides to minimise residues to the extent that they are not detectable at the point of sale.

Hazel Blears: The Department have consulted the Food Standards Agency which has provided the following response.
	The Agency acknowledges that consumers want food which contains a minimum of pesticide residues even though the authorisation system sets limits for residues in food which protect human health. The Agency is currently drawing up an action plan with the aim of encouraging ways of improving the use of pesticides to minimise residues.

Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his answers of 25 April 2002 and 4 July 2002, Official Report, columns 461W and 571W, if he will reconcile the statement that his Department does not collect statistics on the incidence of individual conditions with the statement that his Department collects and uses a wide range of data on morbidity according to the condition of interest and the context of the question to be answered; and if he will collect statistics on Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

Jacqui Smith: As the response to my hon. Friend on 4 July, Official Report, column 571W states, we do have information on a wide range of conditions, in particular for deaths and hospital admissions which are coded accorded to the international classification of diseases in line with practice in other countries. These can answer many questions, but where there is not a specific code for the condition this is not possible. In the case of Duchenne muscular dystrophy this is included within an overall code for muscular dystrophy and is therefore not separately identifiable. We have no plans for collecting separate data in this area.

Devolution

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when the EU Committee for the implementation of the Community action programme on pollution-related diseases in the framework of the action plan for public health is next due to meet; whether representatives of the Scottish Executive (a) have been and (b) are members of it; and if he will make a statement.

Hazel Blears: The European Commission has not yet notified members of the European Union Committee for the implementation of the Community action programme on pollution-related diseases of the date of the next meeting.
	It is the role of Departmental officials to represent the whole of the United Kingdom at this committee. In framing of all EU policy, the Department consults fully with all the devolved authorities, including the Scottish Executive, to ensure that such representation reflects all parts of the UK.

Devolution

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when the EU Committee for the implementation of the Community action plan to combat cancer is next due to meet; whether representatives of the Scottish Executive (a) have been and (b) are members of it; and if he will make a statement.

Hazel Blears: The extended Europe against cancer (EAC) programme will come to an end on 31 December 2002. The programme has a management committee made up of representatives from each Member State and it is for the United Kingdom to decide on who to delegate to represent the UK. The Scottish Executive are regularly consulted on, and is involved in discussions, at official and Ministerial level, with the Department on the formulation of European Union policy which touch on matters which fall within its the responsibilities. Following the successful outcome of the recent conciliation exercise, a new EU public health action programme will start in 2003.

0870 Numbers

John Randall: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the answer of 11 July 2002, Official Report, column 1205W, for what types of purposes 0870 numbers are used; and what level of payment is judged to be suitable.

David Lammy: The Department manages one 0870 line, this being the NHS Responseline. This line was introduced by the NHS Executive in April 1997 to provide a service to the National Health Service to call and place orders for delivery of Departmental publications within 48 hours.
	This line is charged at the national standard call rates set by Cable and Wireless.

Ambulance Services

Jacqui Lait: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which ambulance trusts train their ambulance staff in obstetrics and gynaecological care.

David Lammy: Qualified emergency ambulance staff in every ambulance trust are trained to a national curriculum and operate to national clinical guidelines that include the management of obstetric and gynaecological care.

Ambulance Services

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he plans to introduce the provision of stab- and bullet-proof vests to ambulance services outside London.

David Lammy: holding answer 18 July 2002
	There are no national plans to introduce the provision of light-weight anti-stab vests or bullet-proof vests for frontline ambulance personnel. The use of anti-stab vests or bullet-proof vests is something local managers in ambulance trusts need to consider after undertaking a thorough assessment of the risk faced by their staff, and the need for this type of protective wear.
	The London Ambulance National Health Service Trust has recently piloted the use of anti-stab vests at two ambulance stations. The evaluation of the pilots was positive, and this information is being shared with all other NHS ambulance trusts.

Ambulance Services

Andrew Selous: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many deaths resulted from the failure of ambulances to arrive at their destinations on 17 and 18 July (a) this year and (b) 2001.

David Lammy: This information is not collected.
	All ambulance services will always reach the scene of an emergency call, although different traffic conditions will have an impact on the response time.

Priority Setting

Chris Mullin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his answer of 16 July 2002, ref. 68313, how many priorities were set in the 2002–03 planning and priorities framework; and how many were set in 2001–02.

David Lammy: There were three major priorities set for the National Health Service in the 2002–03 Planning and Priorities Framework. They were:
	delivering emergency services when and where they are needed;
	reducing waiting times and delays throughout the system; and
	improving quality of service and outcomes in clinical priority areas of cancer, heart disease, mental health and services for older people.
	These priorities were underpinned by 32 actions, compared with 108 issued in the previous year.

Post Mortems

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many post mortems took place in each of the last five years.

David Lammy: holding answer 18 July 2002
	The number of post mortems carried out in England and Wales in the last five years is shown in the table.
	
		
			 (000s) 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 
		
		
			 Hospital post mortems 1 3.1 3.5 3.5 N/A N/A 
			 Coroner's post mortems 2 123.0 124.4 124.8 124.5 121.1 
			 Total 126.1 127.9 128.3   
		
	
	1 Series DH1: Mortality Statistics general. Review of the Registrar General on deaths in England and Wales.
	2 Home Office Statistical Bulletin (annual): Deaths reported to Coroners, copies of which are in the Library.

Statutory Instruments

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many statutory instruments have been (a) introduced, (b) removed and (c) amended by his Department since 1 January.

David Lammy: holding answer 18 July 2002
	Information relating to the number of statutory instruments made by the Department since 1 January 2002 has been placed in the Library.

Community Hospital (Malvern)

Michael Spicer: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement about the future of the proposed community hospital at Seaford Court in Malvern.

David Lammy: holding answer 18 July 2002
	The South Worcestershire Primary Care Trust is currently considering the business plan for the development of the proposed new unit at Seaford Court. These will be reviewed over the coming weeks, culminating in a discussion at the joint professional executive committee board meeting on 4 September.
	[This information is correct as at Friday, 2 August 2002]

Cancer

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans she has to investigate cancer rates at Burnham-on-Sea.

Hazel Blears: The Department is aware of the recent survey by green audit of cancer in Burnham-on Sea, however, it has not been provided with details of the results of the survey. Government are advised on cancer clusters near to nuclear installations by the Committee on Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment (COMARE) which was set up in 1985. This committee is carrying out a very large study of childhood cancer in Great Britain which includes all cases registered since the 1960's (some 33,000 cases). This study is expected to report in 2003 and will include areas around all nuclear installations in Great Britain including Burnham-on Sea. The Government are considering a feasibility study by the small area health statistics unit (SAHSU) of all adult cancers in the areas around nuclear power installations in Great Britain.

Social Workers

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the vacancy rates are for social workers in each local authority in England at the latest date for which figures are available.

Jacqui Smith: holding answer 18 July 2002
	Information on vacancy rates for social workers is not available centrally.

Diarrhetic Shellfish Poisoning

Martin Caton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health in which coastal shellfisheries the Food Standards Agency has divided the area into zones for the purpose of testing for diarrhetic shellfish poisoning.

Hazel Blears: The Food Standards Agency having considered expert advice has divided four shellfish production areas, the Solent, the Wash, West Mersea, and the Thames estuary, into zones as a result of presence of diarrhetic shellfish poisoning.

Diarrhetic Shellfish Poisoning

Martin Caton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if the Food Standards Agency will divide the Burry Inlet Shellfishery into zones to permit cockle gathering in the parts of the estuary testing free of diarrhetic shellfish poisoning.

Hazel Blears: The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has recently reviewed whether it would be possible to divide the Burry Inlet into zones in order to permit cockles to be gathered in parts of the estuary. Taking expert advice into account, the FSA does not currently consider the Burry Inlet to be suitable for dividing into zones at this time due a number of issues but primarily due to the erratic pattern of the results for the toxin detection on both sides of the Inlet. The FSA is keeping the situation in the Burry Inlet under review and will continue to liase with the local enforcement agencies and industry.

Wage Costs

Virginia Bottomley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the difference in wage costs between Surrey and Durham.

John Hutton: The weighted capitation formula used to calculate health authority target shares of National Health Service revenue allocations includes a staff market forces factor (MFF) that reflects geographical variations in staff costs. The staff MFF is based on the new earnings survey data set produced by the Office for National Statistics.
	In the 2002–03 allocations formula the weighting factor used for Surrey was 1.15 and the weighting factor for Co. Durham was 1.00.

Portsmouth and South East Hampshire Health Authority

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what estimate his Department has made of the shortfall of (a) nurses, (b) general practitioners, (c) cancer specialists and (d) consultants in (i) the Isle of Wight, Portsmouth and South East Hampshire Health Authority, (ii) Hampshire and (iii) the South East; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  how many (a) mental health nurses and (b) doctors specialising in mental health care there were and what was the estimated shortfall in (i) mental health nurses and (ii) doctors specialising in mental health care in (A) the Isle of Wight, Portsmouth and South East Hampshire Health Authority, (B) Hampshire and (C) the South East in each year since 1996; what the projected figures are for (1) 2002 and (2) 2003; and if he will make a statement.

Hazel Blears: Information on vacancy rates has been collected in the National Health Service Vacancy Survey since 1999. Information, taken from the surveys for 1999 to 2002, has been placed in the Library. Details of shortfalls and projected vacancy rates are held at trust level and, therefore, are not available centrally.

Portsmouth and South East Hampshire Health Authority

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much expenditure there was on mental health services in (a) the Isle of Wight, (b) Hampshire and (c) the South East in each year since 1996; what the projected expenditure is for (i) 2002 and (ii) 2003; and if he will make a statement.

Hazel Blears: The information on expenditure on mental illness, not including primary care services for those with mental illness, for the years 1996–97 to 2000–01 is shown in the table.
	
		
			  Isle of Wight, Portsmouth and South East Hampshire Health Authority Hampshire South East 
		
		
			  £000 £000 £000 
			 1996–97 36,312 89,118 412,979 
			 1997–98 39,161 92,295 438,880 
			 1998–99 39,084 96,686 463,522 
			 1999–2000 44,276 113,129 524,989 
			 2000–01 51,866 122,780 615,425 
		
	
	Notes:
	Figures are secondary mental illness expenditure by the HA and for 2000–01 by PCTs.
	Source:
	Health authority audited accounts 1996–97 to 1998–99.
	Health authority audited summarisation forms 1999–2000 and 2000–01.
	Primary care trust audited summarisation schedules 2000–01.
	Information for 2001–02 is not held centrally nor is a projection on mental health spending for 2002–03.

Food Imports

Colin Breed: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many tests have been carried out by Her Majesty's Customs and Excise on imported foods and ingredients in each of the last five years, broken down by category; and what proportion of those tests identified unauthorised GMO samples.

Hazel Blears: holding answer 19 July 2002
	Responsibility for tests on food imported direct to the United Kingdom from third countries rests with the port health authorities and local authorities which have responsibilities for port health work. Information on tests carried out on imported foods is not held centrally.

Cardiac Services

Ian Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the Government's support for heart failure patients.

Hazel Blears: Increased investment and sustained efforts from National Health Service staff in recent years means the NHS is delivering life saving treatment to more people more quickly. A greater number of lives are being saved from premature death through heart attacks. This means more people are surviving with weakened hearts which, with an ageing population, has resulted in a growing number of people living with heart failure.
	The national service framework (NSF) for coronary heart disease recognised that there was more to be done to improve the care and quality of life that patients with heart failure experience, and to reduce the number of avoidable hospital admissions. As the early priorities for the NSF are now being delivered, heart failure is now a top priority for the next phase of delivery of the NSF.
	The Department will be working in partnership with the British Heart Foundation, the NHS and other key players to ensure high quality care for these patients.

Cardiac Services

Ian Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many heart failure patients there were in the UK in each of the last three years.

Hazel Blears: The information requested is shown in the table.
	
		Hospital admissions for Heart Failure (ICD-10 code 150), England, 1998–99 to 2000–01
		
			  1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 
		
		
			 Hospital admissions for heart failure 82,382 80,055 74,441 
		
	
	Source:
	Department of Health, Hospital Episode Statistics
	Note:
	The data shown represent the number of episodes that were the first in the spell of hospital in-patient treatment rather than a "count" of the number of patients.
	These figures are for England only. Information for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland is the responsibility of the devolved administrations.

Cardiac Services

Ian Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent discussions he has had with (a) patient groups, (b) doctors and (c) pharmarceutical company representatives on heart failure.

Hazel Blears: Ministers recently met with the British Heart Foundation to discuss services for heart failure, and Departmental officials have been in discussion with a range of clinicians and pharmaceutical companies. In addition, an expert sub-group of the coronary heart disease taskforce which includes patient representatives has met to inform the development of policy and practice to implement the national service framework chapter on heart failure.

NICE

Andrew Hunter: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what measures he proposes to take to implement the Wanless report's recommendation that NICE, in conjunction with similar bodies in the devolved administrations, has a major role to play in examining older technologies and practices which may no longer be appropriate or cost effective.

Hazel Blears: Proposals for achieving a broader selection of topics for guidance from the National Institute for Clinical Excellence, including older technologies which may no longer be appropriate or cost effective, were included in a consultation paper on timing and selection of topics for appraisal which we issued in March. We are now considering the response to this consultation and will announce our decisions later in the year.

European Medical Devices Directive

Richard Allan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his answer of 12 July 2002, Official Report, column 1275W, on the European Medical Devices Directive, ref. 67637, when a response is expected; and if he will place a copy of the response in the Library.

David Lammy: holding answer 22 July 2002
	The European Commission have indicated that they are not yet able to indicate when they will be in a position to send a formal reply to the Medical Devices Agency's letter but I will arrange for a copy to be placed in the Library.

Drug Treatment Programmes

Evan Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the baseline is from which the target on increasing the participation of drug users in drug treatment programmes by 55 per cent. in the 2002 Public Service Agreement targets will be judged.

Hazel Blears: The 2002 public services agreement targets were announced on the 15 July; the baseline from which the target on increasing the participation of problem drug users in drug treatment programmes by 55 per cent. by 2004 will be judged, will be fully outlined in the technical notes which are due to be published shortly.

Diabetes National Service Framework

Sue Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he will announce how much extra funding from the health budget over the next five years will be allocated to funding the Diabetes National Service Framework.

David Lammy: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to my hon. Friend, the Member for West Lancashire (Mr. Pickthall) on 10 July 2002, Official Report, column 1049W.

Lung Disease (Sussex)

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the availability of pulmonary rehabilitation services for lung disease sufferers in Sussex.

Hazel Blears: holding answer 23 July 2002
	Information on the type and location of pulmonary rehabilitation services is not held centrally. It is for health authorities, in partnership with primary care trusts and National Health Service trusts, to ensure that patients have access to health services appropriate to their condition.

Abortion

Alistair Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when questions on conscientious objection to abortion referral and contraceptive provision to under 16s were included in local audits of general practice; whom his Department consulted beforehand; and if he will make a statement.

Hazel Blears: Best Practice Guidance on the Provision of Effective Contraceptive and Advice Services for Young People was issued to local teenage pregnancy co-ordinators in 2000. The Guidance is a specific action point of the Government's teenage pregnancy strategy and sets out the criteria by which contraceptive advice services should be commissioned and provided. This includes the provision of confidential contraceptive advice to under 16s within the established legal framework, the provision of early pregnancy testing and non-judgmental advice and, where abortion is the agreed course, quick referral to National Health Service funded abortion services in line with the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists evidence based guideline The Care of Women Requesting Induced Abortion (2000).
	In 2001 the teenage pregnancy unit provided an audit questionnaire for local areas to review community contraceptive services and general practice against the Best Practice Guidance, in order to identify gaps in provision and plan improvements. The majority of areas completed their general practice audits by March 2002.
	The guidance and the audit questionnaire were developed in consultation with health professionals, including those representing general practice on the Government's independent advisory group on teenage pregnancy.

Abortion

Alistair Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  if it is his policy to respect the conscientious objections of (a) doctors and (b) nurses to taking part in abortion operations; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  what research his Department is undertaking into the conscientious objections of doctors taking part in abortion operations; and if he will make a statement.

Hazel Blears: As part of work to improve access to sexual health services for young people, the teenage pregnancy unit has carried out an audit of services currently provided by general practice. This audit will provide an indication of the proportion of general practitioners, nationally and regionally, who have a conscientious objection to abortion, but does not extend to doctors working in hospitals. An analysis of the information provided by the audit will be made available on the teenage pregnancy unit website by the end of this year.
	If medical or nursing staff have strong ethical or moral objections to treatment for termination of pregnancy, it is right that they should not be obliged to participate in this treatment. Their conscientious objection should not be detrimental to their careers and appointments. The exemption for conscientious objection under the Abortion Act 1967, as amended, does not extend to performing the preparatory steps to arrange an abortion, including referral to another doctor if appropriate, where the request meets legal requirements.

Abortion

Alistair Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will introduce legislation to enable a person born live but who was damaged during an abortion prior to 24 weeks gestation to secure compensation; and if he will make a statement.

Hazel Blears: The Government have no plans to legislate on this issue.
	The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists' guideline Termination of pregnancy for fetal abnormality in England, Wales and Scotland (1996) and letter Further issues relating to late abortion, fetal viability and registration of births and deaths (April 2001) state that for all terminations at gestational age of more than twenty-one weeks and six days, which is the threshold of viability, the method chosen should ensure that the fetus is born dead.
	All methods of first trimester abortion carry a low risk of failure to terminate the pregnancy, thus necessitating a further procedure. The Department is aware that a small number of women do decide to proceed with the pregnancy, after receiving advice on the possible effects of the treatment on the growing fetus. These women normally go on to deliver healthy babies.

Abortion

Paul Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what research has been carried out to test possible harm to the (a) physical and (b) psychological health of women which may be caused by the RU486 pill.

Hazel Blears: All relevant evidence within the published literature has been reviewed in the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists' evidence-based guideline The Care of Women Requesting Induced Abortion (2000) and is referenced in the guideline. In general terms, the research shows no increased risk to the physical and psychological health of women having medical abortion compared to those having surgical abortion. Indeed, there appears to be a reduction in certain physical sequelae including infective sequelae.

Teenage Pregnancy

Alistair Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will place in the Library copies of local audits of general practice, referred to in paragraph 5.33 of the Government response to the First Annual report of the Independent Advisory Group on Teenage Pregnancy.

Hazel Blears: We have commissioned from the teenage pregnancy strategy evaluation team a national and regional analysis of the local general practice audit returns.
	The analysis is due to be completed by the end of the year and will be placed on the teenage pregnancy unit website and I will place a copy in the Library.

Teenage Pregnancy

Alistair Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for Health who his Department consulted before responding to the First Annual report on the Independent Advisory Group on Teenage Pregnancy; and if he will make a statement.

Hazel Blears: The independent advisory group on teenage pregnancy was established to provide advice to Government and monitor the success of the national teenage pregnancy strategy. The group includes a membership drawn from a wide range of individuals and organisations with experience of working with young people and teenage parents. The first annual report of the group set out forty-nine recommendations to Government on the further delivery of the national strategy. The Government response addresses these recommendations to set out a forward action plan for the next phase of delivery.
	In addition to the independent advisory group, the teenage pregnancy unit has put in place arrangements to consult and involve the non-statutory sector, faith groups, relevant professional organisations, regional and local teenage pregnancy co-ordinators, young people and parents in tackling teenage pregnancy. The views of these organisations and individuals were taken into account in developing the Government response.

Teenage Pregnancy

Alistair Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the analysis of local audits of general practice referred to in paragraph 5.33 of the Government response to the First Annual report of the Independent Advisory Group on Teenage Pregnancy indicates a change of their policy in respect to the right of conscientious objection by general practitioners to taking part in abortion operations; and if he will make a statement.

Hazel Blears: The Government's position on conscientious objection to abortion remains unchanged. Section 4 of the Abortion Act 1967, as amended, provides that, except where treatment is necessary to save the life of or prevent grave permanent injury to the pregnant woman,
	"no person shall be under any duty, whether by contract or by any statutory or other legal requirement, to participate in any treatment authorised by this Act to which he has a conscientious objection."
	This exemption does not extend to giving advice, performing the preparatory steps to arrange an abortion where the request meets legal requirements and undertaking administration connected with abortion procedures. Doctors with a conscientious objection to abortion should make their views known to the patient and enable the patient to see another doctor without delay if that is the patient's wish.
	The General Medical Council (GMC) booklet "Good Medical Practice" states that general practitioners' views about a patient's lifestyle or beliefs must not prejudice the treatment they provide or arrange. If they feel their beliefs might affect the treatment, this must be explained to the patient who should be told of their right to see another doctor. Breach of this guidance may expose a doctor to a charge of serious professional misconduct and disciplinary action by the GMC.

National PAP Screening Programme

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage of UK women participated in the National PAP Screening Programme, broken down by age groups (a) under 30, (b) 31 to 49, (c) 50 to 59 and (d) 60 to 64 years, in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

Hazel Blears: holding answer 23 July 2002
	The national computerised call/recall system for cervical screening was introduced in 1988. Women aged 20 to 64 are invited for a free cervical screening test every three to five years. Women over 65 are invited if their previous two tests were not clear or if they have never been screened.
	The coverage of the screening programme is defined as the proportion of women aged 25–64, excluding those "recall ceased" for clinical reasons, who have had a test with a result at least once in the previous five years. The national target across the age range is 80 per cent.
	The information requested is shown in the table.
	
		Women screened by the NHS Cervical Screening Programme 1997–2001, England
		
			 England percentage 
			 Age at 31 March 1997 1  1998 2  1999 2  2000 2  2001 2  
		
		
			 under 30 3 80.2 80.4 79.6 78.6 77.0 
			 30–49 86.5 86.4 86.1 85.7 84.9 
			 50–59 85.2 83.9 84.3 84.3 83.9 
			 60–64 78.4 76.7 77.3 77.6 77.6 
		
	
	Source:
	Department of Health Statistics Division 3G: Return
	1 Based on resident population less recall
	2 Based on resident population less recall ceased for clinical
	3 As women may be first called at any age between 20 and the coverage is calculated on women aged 25-

HPV Pilot Scheme

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people took part in the limited implementation HPV pilot scheme in (a) Newcastle, (b) North Bristol and (c) Norfolk and Norwich in (i) 2001–02 and (ii) 2002–03; what the percentage was of women with a borderline/mild abnormality; how much the pilot study has cost since its commencement; and if he will make a statement.

Hazel Blears: holding answer 23 July 2002
	The human papilloma virus (HPV) pilots have been set up to assess the role that HPV testing may play in the triage of women with borderline and low-grade abnormalities. Number of HPV tests: 2001–02
	
		
			  Norfolk/Norwich Bristol Newcastle 
		
		
			 Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) 2,700 2,200 3,248 
		
	
	The number of HPV tests will reduce in 2002–03 as HPV recruitment has ended. The outcome of the HPV pilots will be available to the Department in autumn 2003. The pilot study cost £1.1 million in 2001–02. Planned expenditure for 2002–03 is £1 million. It is estimated that the overall pilot will cost approximately £2.1 million. External quality assessment, laboratory and primary care training and central co-ordination will cost approximately £200,000–£250,000 for the duration of the pilot.

Smear Tests

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of smear tests in England and Wales resulted in women being recalled as a result of inadequate smears in (a) 2001–02 and (b) 2002; and if he will make a statement.

Hazel Blears: holding answer 23 July 2002
	Three and a half million women aged 20–64 were tested for cervical cancer in 2000–01. 9.7 per cent. of smears were inadequate. Approximately 6.3 per cent. of women were recalled as a result of a previous inadequate smear.
	Inadequate smears are tests that are not suitable for reporting for clinical or technical reasons. A proportion of inadequate smears is therefore unavoidable.

CT Scanners

Michael Jack: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many business plans have been submitted from north-west based hospital trusts in respect of securing additional CT scanning equipment; when the criteria to determine the distribution of additional CT scanners will be decided; and when decisions on new scanner distributions will be made.

Jacqui Smith: holding answer 23 July 2002
	Some individual National Health Service trusts have submitted "cases of need" in relation to the national allocation of 50 additional computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanners as outlined in the NHS Cancer Plan. However it is the responsibility of individual cancer networks in partnership with their health authorities to determine the degree of need for their respective populations with regard to access to CT and MRI scanners. There are three cancer networks in the north west, all whom are fully engaged in discussions with the Department and Directorate of Health and Social Care North in assessing the need for CT and MRI scanners.
	One of the factors in establishing criteria for the allocation of additional equipment will be the relative provision of CT and MRI services to the population served, together with the efficient use of existing scanners.
	We expect the criteria to be published during the summer, following consultation with the new health authorities.

Prompt Payment

Brian Cotter: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on his Department's record on the payment of bills on time over the last two years.

David Lammy: The payment record of the Department of Health and its agencies is shown in the table.
	
		
			  No of bills paid  per cent. paid within 30 days or contract terms 
		
		
			 April 2000–March 2001 358,523 95.97 
			 April 2001–March 2002 387,119 94.97

Newborn Screening

James Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether his Department requires primary care trusts in areas where newborn screening has been or is being implemented to allocate necessary funding to enable the screening to continue after the central funding to set up the programme runs out.

Jacqui Smith: We would expect primary care trusts as part of their priority setting to maintain and improve their services from their overall allocations for 2003–04 and future years.

Second Opinion Appointed Doctors

Evan Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the role of second opinion appointed doctors under the Mental Health Act 1983.

Jacqui Smith: The role of the second opinion appointed doctor (SOAD) is to provide an additional safeguard to patient's rights. The Mental Health Act 1983 under Section 58 provides that certain forms of medical treatment for mental disorder 1 require either the patient's consent or a second opinion. In the absence of the patient's consent, and if the treatment falls within the provisions of Section 58, the doctor in charge of the patient's treatment will request a second opinion to certify the treatment proposed.
	The SOAD must decide whether the patient is in fact refusing the treatment or incapable of making a decision on it and whether the treatment should be given. The SOAD acts as an individual and must come to his or her own independent opinion as to whether or not the treatment is a reasonable one.
	In order to form his or her own opinion the SOAD is statutorily obliged to consult with a nurse and another non-nursing/medical professional, both of whom have been professionally concerned with the patient's medical treatment. The SOAD should also interview the patient in private and the doctor in charge of the treatment as well as considering the medical notes and statutory detention documents.
	1 Section 58 relates to the administration of the following forms of treatment in the absence of consent: Electro-Convulsive Therapy at any time; and Medication for mental disorder if three months or more have elapsed since the first administration of medication.

Second Opinion Appointed Doctors

Evan Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what fees and allowances are paid to second opinion appointed doctors under the Mental Health Act 1983 in April of each year since 1990.

Jacqui Smith: The table indicates the fee, subsistence and mileage rates in April of each year. Blank entries are where information is not known at present.
	
		
			Subsistence   
			 Year Fees 5–10 Hours 10–12 Hours Over 12 Hours Mileage Rate 
		
		
			 1990  
			 1991  
			 1992  
			 1993  £4.75 £10.00 £14.75 £0.30 
			 1994  £4.75 £10.00 £14.75 £0.30 
			 1995 £95.50 £4.75 £10.00 £14.75 £0.30 
			 1996 £96.60 £4.75 £10.00 £14.75 £0.30 
			 1997 £96.60 £4.75 £10.00 £14.75 £0.30 
			 1998 £99.25 £4.75 £10.00 £14.75 £0.30 
			 1999 £99.25 £4.75 £10.00 £14.75 £0.30 
			 2000 £102.50 £5.00 £10.00 £15.00 £0.30 
			 2001 £102.50 £5.00 £10.00 £15.00 £0.30 
			 2002 £102.50 £5.00 £10.00 £15.00 £0.30

Second Opinion Appointed Doctors

Evan Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many doctors are required by the Mental Health Act Commission to act as second opinion appointed doctors under the Mental Health Act 1983; and how many are in such posts.

Jacqui Smith: At present the Commission arranges approximately 9,000 second opinions per year and aims to offer second opinion appointed doctors (SOADs) approximately 50 opinions each per year. This equates to a panel size of 180.
	At present there are 156 SOADs, compared to 172 at this time last year. The panel size is expected to increase as a result of a forthcoming recruitment exercise. The Commission is also planning to undertake an exercise to consider its current establishment against the number of second opinions requested from each hospital and unit. This will enable the Commission to "weight" each hospital and recruit accordingly.

Doctors (Suspensions)

Evan Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his answer of 11 July 2002, Official Report, column 846W, on doctors (suspensions), what data is available for the four years preceding 1 January 2000; what conclusions he has drawn as to the reasons for the increase in costs between the first quarter of 2000 and the first quarter of 2002; and what the total cumulative costs of suspensions lasting over six months was for each quarter of (a) 2000, (b) 2001 and (c) 2002 in (i) England and (ii) each region.

John Hutton: The data collected prior to January 2000 is not considered comparable or reliable. The way in which information was collected regionally varied and often the data was incomplete or inaccurate. Following the publication of the document Supporting Doctors, Protecting Patients in 1999 we have improved the accuracy and reliability of information on suspensions.
	The quarterly figures include the cumulative costs of individual cases that may span a number of quarters. When a doctor is no longer suspended, the next quarterly report will cease to reflect the cost of that case. Where the suspension was prolonged, the reduction from one quarter to the next may be quite substantial.
	The reported cumulative costs, per region, of suspensions lasting over six months in England for each quarter of 2000, 2001 and 2002 are as follows:
	
		
			 N West Northern and Yorks W. Mids Eastern Trent S. East S. West London England 20 
		
		
			 686,811 776,274 244,092 219,608 714,200 526,240 None reported 789,000 3,956,225 Q1 
			 532,015 247,243 450,635 50,000 453,500 591,240 None reported 798,000 3,122,633 Q 
			 742,972 255,793 432,753 50,000 486,059 586,500 None reported 718,000 3,272,077 Q 
			 778,200 420,081 467,182 149,520 653,150 154,562 None reported 478,000 3,100,695 Q 
			  20 
			 1,012916 489,797 691,075 246,700 980,270 190,000 33,031 602,000 4,245,789 Q 
			 1,215800 603,305 889,235 559,829 723,403 286,000 42,931 554,000 4,874,503 Q 
			 1,393104 700,615 402,568 570,824 734,643 477,613 42,931 204,000 4,526,298 Q 
			 842,652 882,627 618,250 791,201 967,698 215,517 53,000 204,000 4,574,945 Q 
			  20 
			 942,652 897,153 849,933 787,099 784,514 111,000 63,391 660,000 5,095,742 Q 
		
	
	The Department is supporting the managers who are dealing with individual cases. It has seconded a former NHS Trust Human Resources Director to assist employers find ways to ending suspensions as quickly as possible.

Podiatric Surgery

Roger Gale: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to reduce the waiting lists for podiatric surgery.

John Hutton: holding answer 17 July 2002
	The number of patients waiting for podiatric surgery are not collected centrally.

Podiatric Surgery

Evan Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the total cost to the NHS of suspended doctors in the last year for which figures are available.

John Hutton: holding answer 11 July 2002
	The Department routinely collects information on hospital doctors and community dentists who have been suspended for over six months.
	The estimated total cost of hospital medical and community dental staff suspended for more than six months for the year 2001 is £5 million. This is based on costs reported as part of the Department's quarterly data collection exercise. The figure includes some legal and locum fees as well as salary costs.

GPs

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many general practitioners were connected to NHSnet as at the end of March.

David Lammy: At the end of March 2002 there were 8,584, 98 per cent., of general practitioners' practices in England were connected to NHSnet out of a total of 8,725.

GPs

Jim Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what action he is taking to encourage recruitment of general practitioners to serve in the London Borough of Lewisham.

John Hutton: The Government are committed to increasing the National Health Service workforce, getting more doctors and nurses into the areas that need them most. We are providing financial and other incentives to support this. These include Golden Hello payments of up to £10,000 to general practitioners (GPs) new to the NHS in under-doctored areas, more flexible employment arrangements through personal medicial services (PMS) and a £55 million package to improve primary care premises in deprived parts of the country.
	In London we have established the pan London action group involving all the key stakeholders with regard to the recruitment and retention of GPs in London. This group is overseeing and monitoring the plans which the workforce development confederations have developed in order to recruit and retain the additional GPs we need.
	These plans comprise of a number of actions including;
	Increasing the number of GPs through dynamic PMS proposals
	Additional GPs as a result of more training places
	Additional GPs from an increased conversion rate
	GPs returning through the retainers scheme and extending GPs working lives
	International recruitment including recruiting from refugee and asylum seekers.
	The south east workforce development confederation's plan, which incorporates the London Borough of Lewisham, incorporates all of the above and builds on particular successes in terms of international recruitment and PMS pilots.

Hospital Doctors

John Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what changes in hospital doctor productivity he anticipates over the next three years.

John Hutton: We announced the framework for the new consultant contract on 12 June. The new contract will help contribute to increases in National Health Service productivity. It will increase the proportion of time consultants spend on direct clinical care, make job planning an integral part of the relationship between managers and consultants and give greater rewards to those consultants who contribute most to the NHS.

Health Professionals (Vacancies)

Virginia Bottomley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many vacancies there are for (a) nurses and (b) doctors ranked according to health authority (i) at the most recent date and (ii) 12 months ago.

John Hutton: The information requested has been placed in the Library.

Health Professionals (Vacancies)

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his answer of 4 July 2002, Official Report, column 516W, on health professionals, what information is collected on the number of applications to train as (a) GPs, (b) social workers, (c) physiotherapists and (d) special therapists in each of the last five years.

John Hutton: holding answer 22 July 2002
	Information on the number of applicants for general practitioner (GP) register training places has only been collected from 2001. In 2001 the number of applications for GP register training was 2,239.
	Information on applications for social worker training is not collected centrally. However, a recent social care recruitment campaign is hoping to raise the number of people applying for social work training by 5,000 by 2004. The courses will start in autumn this year and the social work admissions service will publish figures in December.
	The university and colleges admissions service collect data on the number of training applications for the whole of the United Kingdom for physiotherapists.
	
		
			 Year Number of applicants 
		
		
			 1997 28,534 
			 1998 27,985 
			 1999 26,316 
			 2000 25,025 
			 2001 25,579

NHS Dentists/GPs

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has for reform in the NHS regarding (a) dentists and (b) general practitioners.

David Lammy: We intend to publish the Options for Change report on National Health Service dentistry shortly.
	Options for Change will propose that new approaches are tested, assessed and fine tuned at a local level through demonstration sites to provide a better deal for patients, dentists and the NHS before any national decision are made. Demonstration sites will be run through the Modernisation Agency who will be inviting formal expressions of interests following the publication of the Options for Change report.
	Plans to reform general practice are set out in the new general medical service contract framework, which has been negotiated by the NHS Confederation and the British Medical Association, and accepted by the profession. The Government are committed to investment in return for reform that delivers higher quality and a wider range of primary care services.

NHS Dentists/GPs

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage of (a) dentists and (b) general practitioners were registered with the NHS in each region in each of the last five years.

John Hutton: Dentists practising in the United Kingdom must be registered with the General Dental Council (GDC).
	The total number of registrations on the GDC register is shown in the table together with the number of dentists working in the National Health Service, in the UK for the five years 1997–98 to 2001–02. The table gives NHS dentists as a percentage of GDC registrations.
	The GDC register information is not available by region.
	Some of the dentists on the GDC register may not be currently practising in the UK. This includes retired dentists, dentists taking career breaks and dentists currently working overseas.
	The total number of dentists working in the NHS includes dentists working in the General Dental Service, Personal Dental Service, Community and Hospital Dental Services and salaried dentists.
	
		Number of dentists on the General Dental Council register and the total number and percentage of dentists working in the NHS -- United Kingdom
		
			  Total number of dentists registered 1  with the General Dental Council (GDC) Total number of NHS dentists 2 , 3  NHS dentists as percentage of GDC registrations 
			  (thousands) (thousands) (per cent.) 
		
		
			 1997–98 29.1 25.1 86 
			 1998–99 30.0 25.8 86 
			 1999–2000 31.0 26.4 85 
			 2000–01 31.6 26.8 85 
			 2001–02 31.9 27.4 86 
		
	
	Notes:
	1. Dentists registered at 31 December each year.
	2. Number of dentists at 30 September each year.
	3. Data includes all dentists in the General Dental Service, Personal Dental Service, Community and Hospital Dental Services and salaried dentists.
	Equivalent information about general practitioners is not available. All doctors working in the UK must be registered with the General Medical Council (GMC). Their names then appear on the GMC's Medical Register. However the Medical Register does not differentiate between NHS general practitioners and any other doctors. The Register may also include retired doctors, doctors taking career breaks and doctors currently working overseas. The GMC Register is not compiled on a regional basis.
	The total number of registered general practitioners working for the NHS in England for each of the last five years for which figures are available, by NHS region, is as follows:
	
		Registered GPs in England by Region
		
			 Year Northern and Yorkshire Trent Eastern London South Eastern South Western West Midlands North West England Total 
		
		
			 1996–97 3,553 2,743 2,910 3,868 4,716 2,966 2,855 3,589 27,200 
			 1997–98 3,564 2,764 2,943 3,952 4,759 3,015 2,886 3,606 27,489 
			 1998–99 3,603 2,779 2,958 3,965 4,798 3,048 2,906 3,624 27,681 
			 1999–2000 3,612 2,797 2,973 3,971 4,820 3,078 2,906 3,634 27,791 
			 2000–01 3,698 2,806 2,959 3,984 4,856 3,112 2,905 3,618 27,938 
		
	
	Notes:
	1. Registered GPs include General Medical Services unrestricted Principals, GMS restricted Principals.
	Personal Medical Services contracted GPs, and PMS salaried GPs
	2. Data is as at 1 October for 1997 to 1999, and 30 September for 2000 to 2001
	3. Data has been converted to match NHS regional structures for 2001
	4. Source: Department of Health General and Personal Medical Services Statistics

Dentists

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many dentists (a) left the NHS and (b) joined the NHS in each of the last five years; what percentage of the total number of dentists (i) left and (ii) joined the NHS in 2002; and if he will make a statement.

David Lammy: The available information is for the number and percentage of dentists leaving and joining the general dental service (GDS) in England and is shown in the table for the years 1997–98 to 2001–02. Later data is not yet available.
	About 90 per cent. of National Health Service dental services are provided by the GDS. Information on dentists leaving and joining other dental services, including the personal dental service (PDS), community and hospital dental services is not collected centrally.
	The number of leavers covers all reasons for leaving the GDS including final retirement from dental work and dentists taking career breaks as well as those who left to practice solely privately. Figures from 1998–99 onwards are inflated by the transfer of some dentists from the GDS to some PDS pilots. The total number of dentists includes principals on a health authority list, assistants and vocational dental practitioners.
	Since 1997–98 more dentists have joined than left. The number of GDS dentists has increased from 16,387 at March 1997 to 18,254 in March 2002, an increase of 1,867. Dentists are able to vary the amount of work they do in the GDS.
	
		General Dental Service (GDS): Number and percentage 2  of dentists who left and joined the GDS from 1997–98 to 2001–02
		
			  Dentists who left the GDS Dentists who joined the GDS England 
			 Year Number Percentage Number Percentage 
		
		
			 1997–98 900 5 1,341 8 
			 1998–99 1 972 6 1,462 9 
			 1999–2000 1 1,032 6 1,517 9 
			 2000–01 1 1,192 7 1,459 8 
			 2001–02 1 1,216 7 1,366 8 
		
	
	Notes:
	1. Figures affected by the transfer of some dentists from the GDS to the PDS.
	2. Percentages of dentists leaving and joining are based on the number of dentists working at the start of the year.

NHS Professionals

Oliver Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he will publish the Code of Practice for NHS Professionals.

John Hutton: The Code of Practice for the Supply of Temporary Staffing was published on 15 July 2002 on the Department of Health website www.doh.gov.uk/ international-recruitment/code. Hard copies of the Code will be available shortly, and will be placed in the Library.

Nursing

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps the Government take to promote nursing as a profession.

John Hutton: The Government are implementing a range of measures to promote careers in the National Health Service, including nurses. These include increasing pay, encouraging the NHS to become a better employer through the Improving Working Lives and Positively Diverse programmes, increasing training commissions, reducing student attrition, running national and local recruitment and return to practice campaigns, and supporting international recruitment where appropriate. Further information on improving working lives is available at www.doh.gov.uk/iwl.
	The NHS Careers service was established in April 1999 by the Department to provide accurate and up-to-date information on careers throughout the NHS and to promote nursing as a profession. It has a website www.nhs.uk/careers through which publications can be ordered.
	This year's national recruitment campaign ran from 13 February for six weeks and was aimed primarily at raising the profile and the recruitment, retention and return of nurses. Over 51,000 contacts, primarily interested in nursing careers were received at NHS Careers.
	Since 1997, the nursing workforce has grown by 31,520. Between September 1999 and September 2001 there was a net increase in nurses working in the NHS of 20,740—the NHS Plan target has been reached two years early. The number of applicants to nurse training has also increased with 40,908 being received in the academic year 2000–01 as opposed to 18,732 in 1997–98.

Nursing

Liam Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what action is being taken by NHS trusts to reduce assaults on nurses.

John Hutton: Significant action has been taken at both national and local levels to tackle the problem of violence as part of the cross-Government National Health Service zero tolerance zone campaign. Many NHS trusts have taken the opportunity to launch local campaigns with a focus on specific areas of concern.
	Recent surveys conducted in the NHS indicate that almost all NHS trusts have now published policies for reducing the incidence of violence, and also provide evidence that a wide range of measures are being introduced by employers to tackle this problem. These include the installation or upgrading of hospital CCTV systems, other changes to the physical environment and the provision of safety awareness training to staff. Many trusts have also reviewed the support available to staff when violent incidents do occur.
	For the first time ever, new money has been allocated specifically to support the efforts of managers and staff in tackling violence in the NHS. The new funding is expected to be matched by employers, which means that over the three years over £3 million will be invested in new initiatives to protect staff. The money is supporting a range of initiatives from making improvements to risk assessment process to the purchase of personal alarms. In 2001–02, over £791,110 central funding has been invested to support 173 new local measures to protect staff.

Nursing

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will collate statistics on the number of (a) British and (b) foreign nurses practising in the UK who carry HIV.

John Hutton: There is currently no requirement on National Health Service employers to offer or require an HIV test prior to employment of nurses, whether recruited from the United Kingdom or abroad. Therefore, information on the number of HIV infected nurses (of any nationality) working in the NHS is currently not collected centrally.
	The Department is considering the recommendations of an ad hoc expert group set up to assess the potential health risk posed to patients by health care workers new to the NHS infected with serious communicable diseases, including HIV. Implementation of any resulting change in policy would include consideration of monitoring needs.

Nursing

Nigel Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many nurses were recruited for the NHS is each of the last five years for which figures are available from (a) Botswana, (b) South Africa, (c) Uganda, (d) Namibia, (e) Tanzania, (f) Kenya and (g) Malawi; and if he will make a statement on recruitment from countries with a high incidence of HIV.

John Hutton: Information on the country of origin of staff working in the National Health Service is not collected centrally.

Nursing

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his answer of 18 July 2002, Official Report, column 536W, how many of the nurse, midwife and health visitor consultant posts being approved have been taken up by experienced nurses who have returned to the NHS following a substantial period outside the profession.

John Hutton: holding answer 24 July 2002
	The information requested is not collected centrally.
	The nature of nurse consultant posts demand a portfolio of career-long learning, experience and formal education, usually up to or beyond masters degree level including research experience and a record of scholarship. Most nurses who have had a substantial period of time outside the profession are unlikely to have the relevant recent experience required for nurse consultant posts.

Wheelchair Services

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he plans to introduce national standards for prosthetic, orthotic and wheelchair services and if he will make a statement.

Jacqui Smith: holding answer 23 July 2002
	We are currently working with multi professional groups in prosthetic and orthotic services and looking at ways of enhancing patient care through programmes such as the action on orthopaedics and the work of the prosthetic strategic supply group. We will consider in due course, whether any outcomes of this work can be issued as appropriate guidance to the National Health Service.
	We are also working with the Modernisation Agency to improve wheelchair services and to spread best practice across the country. Several national groups, with an interest, have been working on standards for the wheelchair service. As the collaborative work progresses, we will review whether one such standard could be given Departmental endorsement.

Residential and Nursing Homes

Clive Efford: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) residential and (b) nursing homes closed in London in (i) 1999, (ii) 2000 and (iii) 2001.

Jacqui Smith: The number of residential care homes and nursing homes 1 for each year since 1997 is given in the tables.
	Information on nursing homes is collected at health authority rather than local authority level.
	1 General and mental nursing homes, private hospitals and clinics. Includes dual registered homes, therefore the number of residential homes and nursing homes should not be added together.
	
		Table 1: Number of nursing homes and private hospitals and clinics, 1997 to 2001.
		
			 At 31 March Number 
			  Year 2  
			 Health Authority 3  1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 
		
		
			 Barking and Havering 18 22 23 24 24 
			 Barnet 29 34 35 36 32 
			 Bexley and Greenwich 19 29 28 24 23 
			 Brent and Harrow 24 32 37 35 37 
			 Bromley 35 34 29 29 29 
			 Camden and Islington 14 14 17 18 17 
			 Croydon 33 36 40 .. 38 
			 Ealing, Hammersmith and Hounslow 23 33 30 34 32 
			 East London and The City 15 16 26 19 20 
			 Enfield and Haringey 30 32 31 28 29 
			 Hillingdon 13 12 13 14 15 
			 Kensington, Chelsea and Westminster 40 57 63 63 71 
			 Kingston and Richmond 23 23 22 22 22 
			 Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham 49 58 68 69 67 
			 Merton, Sutton and Wandsworth 61 61 66 66 68 
			 Redbridge and Waltham Forest 24 27 26 27 24 
		
	
	Source:
	Department of Health annual returns
	.. not available
	2 The number of homes in 1997 refers to the period 1 October 1996 to 31 March 1997
	3 Information on nursing homes is collected at the Health Authority rather than Local Authority level.
	
		Table 2: Number of residential care homes 4 , 5  1997 to 2001.
		
			 At 31 March Number 
			Year   
			 London Borough 6  1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 
		
		
			 Barking and Dagenham 29 33 33 33 31 
			 Barnet 112 130 127 132 126 
			 Bexley 58 64 67 67 63 
			 Brent 92 95 97 87 87 
			 Bromley 112 100 107 107 99 
			 Camden 70 66 56 55 47 
			 City of London 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Croydon 143 185 183 192 207 
			 Ealing 101 120 100 72 100 
			 Enfield 113 126 124 117 123 
			 Greenwich 46 50 19 45 47 
			 Hackney 39 39 34 38 46 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham 34 33 .. 33 32 
			 Haringey 104 94 109 116 122 
			 Harrow 77 76 75 77 76 
			 Havering 66 61 64 63 65 
			 Hillingdon 68 70 67 71 68 
			 Hounslow 39 44 43 48 40 
			 Islington 43 42 55 41 40 
			 Kensington and Chelsea 22 21 18 18 16 
			 Kingston-upon-Thames 71 70 71 66 65 
			 Lambeth 119 115 114 108 105 
			 Lewisham 83 76 87 84 85 
			 Merton 54 52 60 56 61 
			 Newham 47 52 50 55 57 
			 Redbridge 69 77 72 75 70 
			 Richmond-upon-Thames 54 63 59 55 55 
			 Southwark 78 46 73 72 72 
			 Sutton 62 64 62 60 59 
			 Tower Hamlets 31 28 28 28 23 
			 Waltham Forest 99 98 118 109 108 
			 Wandsworth 80 77 78 98 95 
			 Westminster 40 41 35 36 35 
		
	
	Source:
	Department of Health annual returns
	.. Not available
	4 Excludes children's homes
	5 Includes dual registered homes, therefore the number of nursing homes and residential homes should not be added together.
	6 Information is collected at the Local Authority geographical level and is presented for each London Borough.

Residential and Nursing Homes

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what contingency arrangements (a) his Department and (b) the National Care Standards Commission have made to advise care home managers concerning their legal obligations in respect of staff awaiting the results of a criminal record check after 1 August; how many care home staff are awaiting a clearance check by the Criminal Records Bureau; how long they have been waiting; and what action a home failing to comply with staffing regulations because of delays by the Criminal Records Bureau will be required to take.

Jacqui Smith: holding answer 22 July 2002
	All the statutory regulations are immediately accessible on the Department's website and the National Care Standards Commission (NCSC) internet website. The Care Homes Regulations were published in December 2001 following extensive consultation and were immediately placed on the Department's website.
	The NCSC wrote to all pre-existing care homes on 8 March 2002 with a guide to the application of the Care Standards Act. The guide included general information about legal requirements, including the requirement for care homes to obtain criminal records checks on staff. The guide included addresses for obtaining more information. The guide also included an application form for providers to apply for the relevant national standards document. Each set of national standards includes the appropriate regulations at the back.
	The NCSC sent a registration pack to all unregistered care homes in February 2002 and sends a registration pack to all new applicants. The pack advises applicants to check the legal requirements before submitting their application to the NCSC.
	In addition, the NCSC wrote to all providers in June reminding them of their obligations. This information can be found on the NCSC's website, which also sets out guidance to help providers manage their staff recruitment until the Criminal Records Bureau is fully meeting its targets. The NCSC has also co-operated with the care homes' umbrella organisations, to arrange for publication of this information on their internal sites.

Residential and Nursing Homes

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what representations he has received in connection with the implementation of standards 21.3 and 22.2 of the National Minimum Standards for Care Homes for Older People; if he will place them in the Library; what assessment he has made of the impact of standards 21.3 and 22.2 of the National Minimum Standards for Care Homes for Older People on the availability of beds in residential care and nursing homes; what estimate he has made of the impact on the number of care homes of the requirement of complying with the National Minimum Standards for Care Homes for Older People; and what estimate he has made of the average amount that each care home will have to spend in order to comply with the National Minimum Standards for Care Homes for Older People.

Jacqui Smith: The information requested is not easily available. The Department has received a large number of letter about national standards from care home owners, their representatives and other interested parties. Some of these letters include reference to paragraph 21.3 or paragraph 22.2 or both. Separating out all those letters which mention these paragraphs and placing them in the Library would involve disproportionate cost.
	On 23 July my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health announced his intention to issue for consultation an amended set of physical environment standards. The aim of the amendments is to remove the requirement for care homes which existed before 1 April 2002 to conform to certain physical environment standards, including standards 21.3 and 22.2. For pre-existing care homes these standards would in future be regarded as good practice to which all care homes should aspire.

Residential and Nursing Homes

Adam Price: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the situation facing local authorities and the private sector with regard to care homes.

Jacqui Smith: I refer my hon. Friend to the statement on older people's services which my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State made to the House on 23 July at columns 869–72.

Residential and Nursing Homes

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many care homes have (a) opened and (b) closed in each region in each of the last five years.

Jacqui Smith: The information requested is not held centrally.

Residential and Nursing Homes

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what figures he has collated of the average cost over the past five years, by region, for residents of a private care home.

Jacqui Smith: Information on care home fee levels is not collected centrally. The hon. Member may find it helpful to consult reports of the recent annual surveys of the care home sector undertaken by consultants Laing and Buisson. These contain information on the average weekly fees in each region charged by private care homes for elderly people.
	The social services performance assessment framework indicators published in October 2001 contain information on councils' unit costs for providing residential and nursing care for different client groups. A copy of this document is available in the Library.

Residential and Nursing Homes

Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many residential care home places for elderly people were closed in (a) England and (b) the NHS during the last 12 months.

Jacqui Smith: The information requested is not collected centrally.

Children's Hospices

Keith Bradley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the children's hospices in the North West region; and what grant from his Department was allocated to each children's hospice in each of the last five years.

Hazel Blears: holding answer 12 July 2002
	There are five children's hospices in the North West of England:
	Brian House, Blackpool;
	Derian House, Chorley;
	Zoe's Place, Liverpool (baby hospice);
	Francis House, Manchester; and
	Claire House, Wirral.
	The Department has never awarded grants to children's hospices. The level of National Health Service funding is for primary care trusts to determine, as part of their health improvement programmes, in consultation with their local partners.
	However, the New Opportunities Fund invited applications to participate in a £48 million children's palliative care programme in England, of which £15.3 million is specifically available to promote high quality provision within children's hospices. The closing date for applications was 16 August and applicants will be informed of the outcome in January 2003.

Child Care Co-ordinators

Oliver Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of NHS trusts have a child care co-ordinator.

John Hutton: holding answer 10 July 2002
	There are at least eighty National Health Service child care co-ordinators in post throughout the NHS, and recruitment is continuing. Childcare co-ordinators may cover one trust, a number of trusts, or the whole local health economy, including the primary care trusts. We expect that by April 2003, all NHS staff will have access to the services of a childcare co-ordinator to offer support and advice to parents working in the NHS.

Children (Prescriptions)

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what information is given to individual carers about the type of prescriptions provided to children in care.

Jacqui Smith: holding answer 22 July 2002
	We have issued National Minimum Standards across the range of children's services. The standards for fostering services, which accounts for two thirds of all children in care, state that the carer should be provided with a written health record for each child placed in their care, and that this should be updated during the period of the placement. In addition, before a placement begins, the carer should be provided with as full a description as possible of the health needs of a child and clear procedures governing consent for the child to receive medical treatment. Where it is an agency placement, the responsible authority should pass the information on to the agency, who in turn passes it on to the carer. Similar arrangements apply to those placed in children's homes.

Health and Social Care Inspectorate

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if the National Care Standards Commission and the Social Services Inspectorate will be abolished and their functions transfered to the Health and Social Care Inspectorate.

Jacqui Smith: holding answer 23 July 2002
	As my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State announced on 19 April, we plan to set up two new independent inspectorates, the Commission for Healthcare Audit and Inspection and the Commission for Social Care Inspection. These new bodies will further strengthen the system for inspecting health and social care, ensure clearer public accountability and rationalise the number of bodies regulating health and social care.
	The Commission for Social Care Inspection will create a single comprehensive Inspectorate for social care, bringing together the inspection functions of the social services inspectorate, including a number of their function with the Audit Commission, and the National Care Standards Commission (NCSC) and including the regulation of social care providers. The NCSC and the social services inspectorate will continue with their existing work until the new body goes live.

Social Workers

Shaun Woodward: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many social workers per 1,000 population there were in (a) St Helens, (b) Merseyside, (c) the North West and (d) England in each year since 1996.

Jacqui Smith: holding answer 23 July 2002
	The table below shows the whole-time equivalent number of social work staff (including care managers) per 1,000 population as at 30 September for each year between 1996 and 2001 for St. Helens, Merseyside, the North West excluding Merseyside and England as a whole.
	
		
			 Social work staff 1  (whole-time equivalent) per 1,000 population 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2  
		
		
			 St. Helens 0.5 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.7 0.6 
			 Merseyside 0.8 0.8 0.7 0.8 0.8 0.7 
			 North-West (excluding Merseyside) 0.6 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.7 
			 England 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.7 
		
	
	1 Includes care managers
	2 2000 population figures used as these are the latest available
	Sources: Form SSDS001, annual return of local authority social services departments staff and Office for National Statistics population figures

Prisoners' Mental Health

Evan Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Oxford, West and Abingdon of 15 July 2002, Official Report, column 125W, on mental health, what information is held on the mental health of inmates in British prisons; and if he will make it available.

Jacqui Smith: Information on the mental health of prisoners in England and Wales is contained in the report of a survey of psychiatric morbidity among prisoners carried out by the Office for National Statistics in 1997, a copy of which is available in the Library. Information on the mental health of prisoners in Scotland and Northern Ireland is a matter for the devolved administrations.

Mental Health

Tim Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what action he is taking to encourage the use of technology in improving dementia care.

Jacqui Smith: holding answer 17 June 2002
	Passive personal alarm systems and other such technology that detects unusual patterns of domestic activity, wandering and unlit gas are a useful addition to the field of dementia care. Use may reduce or postpone admissions to residential or nursing care and can improve the quality of life for carers. Every opportunity is taken by Ministers and officials to encourage the spread of such technology as part of the funded national project to integrate community equipment services by 2004 and to increase the number of people benefiting from these services by 50 per cent.

Mental Health

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average time was for appeals to mental health review tribunals to be heard in each region in the most recent year for which information is available.

Jacqui Smith: There are three separate categories that Mental Health Review Tribunal's fall into: Section 2, Non-Restricted and Restricted. The section 2 target is a statutory target.
	Section 2 tribunals must be heard within 7 days of the application being received in the office.
	Non-restricted cases are listed as speedily as possible but no earlier than 3 weeks after receipt because the Responsible Authority has three weeks under the provisions of the Mental Health Act 1983 in which to provide reports for the Tribunal. Before October 2001, the non-restricted tribunals were required to be listed within 8 weeks of the application being received in the office. Subsequent case law requires the tribunal to be less rigid, and to list speedily taking into account the circumstances of individual cases
	Restricted cases must be heard within 20 weeks of the application being received in the office. Timing of listed appeals:
	The average time for appeals to be heard between July 2001-June 2002 and is divided into the four regions. North London and East Region Section 2—9 days Non-Restricted—7.2 weeks Restricted—18.2 weeks South London, South and West Region Section 2—8.3 days Non-Restricted—8.4 weeks Restricted—18 weeks West Midland and North West Region Section 2—6.1 days Non-Restricted—7.5 weeks Restricted—19.6 weeks Trent, Northern and Yorkshire Region Section 2—6.3 days Non-Restricted—7.8 weeks Restricted—19.4 weeks National Averages Section 2—7.4 days Non-Restricted—7.7 weeks Restricted—18.8 weeks

Mental Health

Oliver Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he last met colleagues in the office of the Deputy Prime Minister to discuss the Social Exclusion Unit's work on mental health issues; and what future meetings are planned.

Jacqui Smith: holding answer 8 July 2002
	Officials from the Department are involved in the Social Exclusion Unit's current projects and meet on a regular basis, seeking to ensure that these reflect the needs of mental health service users

Mental Health

Oliver Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the Newcastle Declaration made on 25 June in respect of mental health and its treatment.

John Hutton: The launch of the first year strategy for the National Institute for Mental Health in England in Newcastle on 25 June brought together professionals and service users to show their support for the work being prepared on early intervention services. Discussions have formed the basis of the Newcastle Declaration which emphasises the high levels of care for people in the early stages of psychosis.
	The Declaration is now being taken forward to an International Conference in Copenhagen in the Autumn and is a sign of the broad support for the conventions taken forward.

Mental Health

Shaun Woodward: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much spending there was on mental health services in (a) St Helens and Knowsley Health Authority, (b) Merseyside, (c) the North West and (d) England in each year since 1996; and what the projected amounts are for (i) 2002 and (ii) 2003.

Jacqui Smith: holding answer 23 July 2002
	The data for 1996–97 to 2000–01 are shown in the table below. Projections are not available.
	
		
			  St Helens Merseyside North West England £'000 
		
		
			 1996–97 16,287 57,643 350,192 2,648,191 
			 1997–98 17,066 63,037 365,286 2,767,036 
			 1998–99 19,684 72,595 395,425 2,925,934 
			 1999–2000 21,485 81,780 454,238 3,445,341 
			 2000–01 24,105 144,293 546,979 3,952,618 
		
	
	Figures are secondary mental illness expenditure by the health authority and, for 2000–01, by PCTs.
	Sources:
	Health authority audited accounts 1996–97 to 1998–99;
	Health authority audited summarisation forms 1999–2000 and 2000–01;
	Primary care trust audited summarisation schedules 2000–01.
	Notes:
	Merseyside includes St Helens and Knowsley, Sefton and Liverpool health authorities.
	Sefton included £63 million mental illness expenditure in 2000–01, when it was the lead commissioner for secure mental health services in the North West region. This explains the large increase in the Merseyside figures for 2000–01.
	North West includes the 16 health authorities.
	Primary mental illness expenditure is not separately identified in the accounts/summarisation schedules.

Mental Health

Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much funding is available for (a) mental health services and (b) mental health counselling services in Buckinghamshire in the current financial year; what the corresponding figures were, adjusted for inflation, in 2000–01; and if he will make a statement.

Hazel Blears: holding answer 23 July 2002
	The Government is committed to the delivery of effective mental health services for those people who need them. The NHS Plan built on the national framework for mental health by providing for extra investment of over £300 million by 2004.
	The information requested is held at health authority and primary care trust level.

Mental Health

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health in what format his Department holds information regarding the (a) number of acute psychiatric beds, (b) occupancy rate and (c) delayed discharge from these beds.

Jacqui Smith: holding answer 22 July 2002
	Information regarding the number of hospital beds and occupancy rate is collected annually via the Department's collection from KHO3 "Bed Availability and Occupancy". The form requests availability and occupancy of beds in wards open overnight by ward classification. A section for information on mental illness is split into three parts: children—short stay, long stay, elderly—short stay, long stay and other ages—secure unit, short stay, long stay.
	The resulting data is published on the Department's website at www.doh.gov.uk/hospitalactivity/
	Information on delayed discharge from these beds is not collected.

Learning Disabilities

Tim Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on progress in the implementation of the Learning Disabilities Strategy set out in the White Paper "Valuing People".

Jacqui Smith: We are continuing to make good progress in delivering the programme of action set out in the White Paper Valuing People: A New strategy for Learning Disability for the 21 Century (March 2001).
	I last reported progress to the House on 1 February (column 535). I was pleased to report then on good progress in setting up Learning Disability Partnership Boards, the Learning Disability Task Force, and the Valuing People Support Team, and on the early distribution of guidance. Progress since February includes:
	The Valuing People Support Team is fully operational and is continuing to develop effective links with Learning Disability Partnership Boards. It has started on a wide ranging programme of activities to support Boards in achieving their objectives, for example around person centred planning and employment strategies
	We have allocated £900,000 to fifty seven citizen advocacy and self advocacy projects across the country in the first year of a three year funding programme
	Work is under way on a joint Department of Health/Department for Work and Pensions study of the interface between day centres and supported employment (due for completion in April/May 2003)
	We have published guidance jointly with the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister on housing and support options for people with learning disabilities. This is in draft on the Department's learning disability website for consultation. The guidance will help Partnership Boards and local councils develop housing strategies for people with learning disabilities
	Guidance on Health Action Plans has been published and is being distributed to Learning Disability Partnership Boards
	The Learning Disability Task Force has held three further meetings at which it has discussed a range of issues and has had presentations from a number of Government departments. Task Force sub groups are taking forward more detailed work on individual topics
	All learning disability joint investment plans (JIPs) have been evaluated and Learning Disability Development Fund (LDDF) revenue was distributed by the end of March to all but six Partnership Boards whose JIPs were unsatisfactory; all but one of these have since been brought up to standard and money released.
	We have commissioned and started work on a national survey of people with learning disabilities
	A National Forum of People with Learning Disabilities continues to provide a voice for people using learning disability services. We are supporting the establishment of a network of Regional Forums which will feed in to the National Forum and ensure that it is properly representative
	The Learning Disability Task Force will be reporting to me later in the year on its work in overseeing the Valuing Prople implementation programme. I will also be publishing a separate report on learning disability services later in the year.

Learning Disabilities

Gwyn Prosser: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what funding is made available to provide residential care and supported living for people with a learning disability; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  what guidance is forwarded to social services departments regarding the collection of (a) the numbers of older carers and (b) information about the caring needs, family circumstances and housing needs of people with a learning disability; and if he will make a statement.

Jacqui Smith: I refer my hon. Friend to the response I gave my hon. Friend, the Member for Edmonton (Mr. Love) on 9 July 2002 at columns 889–90W.
	Local councils decide the level of funding provided for residential care for people with a learning disability according to need, no specific amounts are made available for this purpose. Gross current expenditure on care for learning disabled people by councils with social services responsibilities in England in 1999–2000 and 2000–01, the latest two years for which this information is available, was
	
		
			  1999–2000 (£million) 2000–01 (£million) 
		
		
			 Residential care 922.0 1015.3 
			 Non-residential care 605.4 631.8 
			 Total 1527.4 1647.1 
		
	
	Note:
	Figures do not include the costs of assessment related work by social services departments, or the costs of commissioning provision from the private and independent sector and other local authorities.
	We do not specifically require local authorities to collect numbers of older carers but our "Fair Access to Care Services" guidance issued on 28 May (copies available in the library) sets out that social services departments should monitor the extent to which different groups are referred, which groups receive an assessment and which groups go on to receive services.

Learning Disabilities

Tim Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what arrangements he is making to monitor the implementation of the White Paper on learning disabilities "Valuing People" by local learning disability partnership boards.

Jacqui Smith: We are committed to ensuring the effective delivery of the programme of action set out in the White Paper Valuing People: A New Strategy for Learning Disability for the 21 Century (March 2001).
	Implementation of the strategy is primarily the responsibility of local authorities as set out in the implementation guidance issued in August 2001.
	Progress made in the implementation of Valuing People at council level is monitored by the social services inspectorate using the existing performance assessment framework for social services. Through the monitoring element of the framework, councils provide annual summaries of the improvement priorities, targets and strategies. Progress with these improvements is updated during the year and reviewed annually prior to the determination of the councils' overall performance (star) rating.
	The Valuing People Support Team is continuing to develop links with local learning disability partnership boards and will also provide information on progress with implementation. A national survey of people with learning disabilities has been commissioned which will describe users' experiences of services and help to identify areas where improvement is needed.
	The £2 million learning disability research programme will help to improve the evidence base. Projects being funded include ones designed to assess the effects of the Valuing People programme.
	The learning disability task force's annual report, due later this year, will provide an overview of progress by all partners in the implementation programme and advise on any aspects of implementation where particular action might be required.

Personal Social Services

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the reports of the Personal Social Services Research Unit submitted to his Department in (a) December 2001 and (b) February 2002; and what action has been taken in response to the findings and conclusions.

Jacqui Smith: holding answer 22 July 2002
	The research the Department commissioned is being analysed in the Department. The findings, will inform future policy considerations.

Primary Care Trusts

John Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has for funding PCTs that have more GPs than the recommended average per 100,000 people.

John Hutton: The framework document for the new general medical services contract proposes the introduction of a formula that links funding to patient numbers, and that a fair shares distribution will be achieved over time. Detailed negotiations on the contract including transitional arrangements are taking place now the framework has been approved in a ballot of general practitioners.

Primary Care (Twickenham)

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what his latest estimate is of the general practitioner/patient ratio in (a) Twickenham and (b) the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames; and if he will make a statement.

John Hutton: holding answer 23 July 2002
	The information available is shown in the table.
	
		NHS Plan GPs 1   and Unrestricted Principals and Equivalents 2  (UPEs) and Patients for Kingston and Richmond Health Authority as at 30 September 2001
		
			   numbers 
			  HA and PCG/T Code NHS Plan GPs of which: UPEs Patients Average List Size NHS Plan Average List Size of UPEs 
		
		
			 Kingston and Richmond HA QAG 197 191 369,728 1,877 1,936 
			 Kingston PCT 5A5 93 93 175,007 1,882 1,882 
			 Richmond PCG 4RM35 48 44 90,180 1,879 2,050 
			 Teddington, Twickenham and Hamptons PCT 5A6 56 54 104,541 1,867 1,936 
		
	
	Note:
	1 NHS Plan GPs includes UPEs, Restricted Principals, Assistants, Salaried Doctors (Para 52 SFA) and PMS Other
	2 UPEs includes GMS Unrestricted Principals, PMS Contracted GPs, and PMS Salaried GPs.
	Source:
	Department of Health General and Personal Medical Services Statistics.

Primary Care (Twickenham)

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what funds have been committed to improving access to primary care in Twickenham since 1997; what improvements have taken place; and if he will make a statement.

John Hutton: holding answer 23 July 2002
	As part of the Department's commitment to improving access to primary care nationally, we have increased the primary care trust primary care access fund by £83.5 million to £168 million, with at least £48 million dedicated in 2002–03 to improving access in primary care and implementing advanced access. Richmond and Twickenham Primary Care Trust has received £150,000 from the primary care access fund.
	In 1997 the Kingston and Richmond Health Authority used improvement grants to fund schemes that improved physical access to surgeries and improved communications with surgeries.
	From 1998 the new primary care organisations within Richmond and Twickenham began to work with local general practitioners (GPs) to explore new ways of working. Teddington, Twickenham and Hamptons successfully bid to participate in the national primary care collaborative focussing on improved coronary heart disease (CHD) care, improving access to primary care and managing capacity. Funding available for this scheme totalled £149,000 over two years. This has allowed primary care teams to scrutinise the demand on their services and look to manage that demand using a variety of methods including telephone triage/consultations by GPs, nurse triage, changing the skill mix by employing health assistants. A further £110,000 was spent on innovative projects that focused on partnership developments, for example, with the voluntary sector, community pharmacy, to improve access by ensuring that patients were seen by the right professional in the right place.
	The programme extends from pilot sites and is being extended to the whole of Richmond. Available resources this year are £150,000 and will be spent on further improving access.
	The primary care organisations continued to support the improvements of physical access to surgeries by investment in for example, induction loops, tactile signage, and ramps. In 2001–02 at least £220,000 was invested in this area.

Consultant Treatment

Clive Efford: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to monitor how many patients originally referred to a NHS consultant finally receive treatment in the private sector from the same consultant.

John Hutton: This Department does not collect information about private patients treated in private hospitals. We have agreed as part of the framework for the new consultant contract that there will be contractual provisions governing the relationship between private practice and National Health Service commitments, based on the principle that an NHS consultant's commitment to the NHS must take priority over any work undertaken for other organisations. The detail of the provisions is under discussion, but we have agreed that consultants will be required to inform employers of their private practice commitments, as part of their annual job planning and appraisal process.

Consultant Treatment

Clive Efford: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will introduce regulations to prevent consultants treating patients in their private practices that were originally referred to them through the NHS.

John Hutton: We have agreed as part of the framework for the new consultant contract that there will be contractual provisions governing the relationship between private practice and National Health Service commitments. These provisions will be based on the principle that an NHS consultant's commitment to the NHS must take priority over any work undertaken for other organisations and designed to minimise the potential for actual or perceived conflicts of interest. One of the key principles is that consultants should not allow private practice to disrupt the provision of NHS services or have any adverse impact on NHS performance or delivery of NHS commitments. The detail of the provisions is under discussion, but we have agreed that the areas covered by the new rules will include the transfer of patients between the NHS and private sector, and management of NHS waiting lists.

NHS Planning

Debra Shipley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many registered (a) town planners, (b) landscape designers, (c) chartered surveyors and (d) architects work in (i) NHS Estates, (ii) NHS regional offices and (iii) NHS trusts.

David Lammy: NHS Estates employs four town planners, forty-seven chartered surveryors and fourteen architects. In addition it draws on specialist expertise from outside the Agency. We do not hold the requested information on National Health Service trusts centrally. NHS regional offices ceased to exist on 1 April 2002.

Accident and Emergency Departments

Virginia Bottomley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what measures he has taken to publicise the fact that accident and emergency departments do not give advice over the phone.

David Lammy: The Department has taken no specific measures to publicise the fact the accident and emergency departments do not give advice over the phone.
	Patients can obtain telephone advice on medical emergencies from NHS Direct, a nurse-led telephone helpline providing health information and advice 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Accident and Emergency Departments

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average waiting time is in accident and emergency departments by region, before a patient gets treated in the last 12 months for which figures are available.

David Lammy: The Department does not routinely collect information on average waiting times in accident and emergency departments (A and E).
	Information on total time in A and E from arrival to transfer, admission or discharge has been collected by the Department since August 2001. We have reliable data from October 2001.
	The table below shows the number of people spending four hours or less in A and E by region from October 2001 to March 2002.
	
		Percentage of patients spending less than four hours in A and E from arrival to transfer, admission or discharge.
		
			 Organisation Number of A and E attendances Number of patients spending under 4 hours in A and E Patients spending under 4 hours in A and E per cent. 
		
		
			 Eastern 488,915 365,871 75  
			 London 1,015,261 653,043 64  
			 North West 861,612 665,217 77  
			 North Yorkshire 779,716 680,503 87  
			 South East 822,514 612,993 75  
			 South West 443,697 357,123 80  
			 Trent 500,379 406,254 81  
			 West Midlands 641,729 536,635 84  
			 England 5,553,823 4,277,639 77

Accident and Emergency Departments

Brian Cotter: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what action he is taking to deal with increased accident and emergency admissions in the south-west area

Hazel Blears: holding answer 19 July 2002
	In the former south west region over £15 million from the accident and emergency (A and E) modernisation fund has been invested in improving A and E facilities over the last three years.

Private Bed Facilities

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how much revenue was earned by hospital trusts operating private bed facilities in the last 12 months for which figures are available;
	(2)  if he will list those hospital trusts operating private bed facilities.

John Hutton: holding answer 18 July 2002
	In 2000–01 the total gross income received and receivable for patient care services from private patients treated by National Health Service trusts was £316,627,000. Source: NHS Trust Summarisation Schedules 2000–01. The income reported is for all private patients and not just those using a bed.
	The Department does not maintain records centrally of the private facilities operated by NHS acute trusts. A list of NHS trusts reporting finished consultant episodes for private patients in 2000–01 is shown in the table.
	Hospital Episode Statistics: NHS Hospitals in England Reporting
	Finished Consultant Episodes (FCEs) for Private Patients for 2000–01
	Addenbrooke's NHS Trust Aintree Hospitals NHS Trust Airedale NHS Trust Ashford and St. Peter's Hospitals NHS Trust Avon and Western Wiltshire MHC NHS Trust Bamsley Community and Priority Bamsley District General Hospital Barts and The London NHS Trust Basildon and Thurrock General Hospital Bassetlaw Hospital and Community NHS Trust Bath and West Community NHS Trust Bay Community NHS Trust Bedford Hospitals NHS Trust Birmingham Children's Hospital Birmingham Heartlands and Solihull NHS Trust Birmingham Women's Healthcare NHS Trust Blackburn, Hyndburn and Ribble Valley Health Care NHS Trust Blackpool Victoria Hospital NHS Trust Blackpool, Wyre and Fylde Community Health Services NHS Trust Bolton Hospitals NHS Trust Bournewood Community and Mental Health NHS Trust Bradford Hospitals NHS Trust Brighton Health Care NHS Trust Bromley Hospitals NHS Trust Burnley Healthcare NHS Trust Burton Hospitals NHS Trust Bury Health Care NHS Trust Calderdale Healthcare NHS Trust Camden and Islington Community Health Services NHS Trust Carlisle Hospitals NHS Trust Central Manchester Healthcare Trust Central Sheffield University Hospital Chase Farm Wellhouse NHS Trust Chelsea and Westminster Healthcare NHS Trust Chesterfield and North Derbyshire Chorley and South Ribble NHS Trust Christie Hospital NHS Trust City hospitals sunderland NHS Trust Clatterbridge Centre For Oncology NHS Trust Cornwall Healthcare NHS Trust Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Trust Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust Dewsbury health care NHS Trust Doncaster Royal Infirmary Dorset Community NHS Trust Dorset Healthcare NHS Trust Dudley Group of Hospitals NHS Trust Durham County Priority Service East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust East Berkshire Community Health NHS Trust East Cheshire NHS Trust East Gloucestershire NHS Trust East Kent Hospitals NHS Trust East London and The City Mental Health NHS Trust East Somerset NHS Trust Eastbourne Hospitals NHS Trust Epsom/St Helier NHS Trust Essex Rivers Healthcare NHS Trust Exeter and District Community Health Service NHS Trust Forest Healthcare NHS Trust Frimley Park Hospital NHS Trust Gateshead Health NHS Trust George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust Gloucestershire Royal NHS Trust Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Trust Greenwich Healthcare NHS Trust Guild Community Healthcare NHS Trust Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Trust Halton General Hospital NHS Trust Harrogate Healthcare NHS Trust Hastings and Rother NHS Trust Havering Hospitals NHS Trust Heatherwood and Wexham Park Hospital Hereford Hospitals NHS Trust Herefordshire Community Health Hinchingbrooke Healthcare NHS Trust Homerton Hospital NHS Trust Huddersfield NHS Trust Hull and East Yorkshire Hospital Invicta Community Care NHS Trust Ipswich Hospital NHS Trust Isle Of Wight Healthcare NHS Trust James Paget Hospital NHS Trust Kettering General Hospital NHS Trust King's Healthcare NHS Trust Kings Lynn and Wisbech Hospitals Kingston Hospital NHS Trust Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust Leicestershire and Rutland Healthcare NHS Trust Lewisham Hospital NHS Trust Liverpool Womens Hospital NHS Trust Luton and Dunstable Hospital NHS Trust Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust Mayday Healthcare NHS Trust Medway NHS Trust Mid Essex Hospitals NHS Trust Mid Staffordshire General Hospital Mid Sussex NHS Trust Milton Keynes General Hospital Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Trust Morecambe Bay Hospitals NHS Trust Newham Community Health Services NHS Trust Newham Healthcare NHS Trust Norfolk and Norwich Health Care NHS Trust Norfolk Mental Healthcare NHS Trust North Bristol NHS Trust North Dorset Primary Care Trust North Durham Healthcare NHS Trust North East Lincolnshire NHS Trust North Hampshire Hospitals NHS Trust North Hampshire, Loddon Community NHS Trust North Manchester Healthcare NHS Trust North Middlesex Hospital NHS Trust North Sefton and West Lancashire Community NHS Trust North Staffordshire Hospital NHS Trust North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Trust Northallerton Health Services Northampton General Hospital NHS Trust Northem Devon Healthcare NHS Trust Northem General Hospital NHS Trust Northgate and Prudhoe NHS Trust Northumbria Healthcare NHS Trust Northwick Park/Central Middlesex Norwich Community Health Partnership NHS Trust Nottingham City Hospital NHS Trust Nottingham Healthcare NHS Trust Nottingham University Hospital Nuffield Orthopaedic NHS Trust Oldham NHS Trust Oxford Radcliffe Hospital NHS Trust Papworth Hospital NHS Trust Parkside Health NHS Trust Peterborough Hospitals NHS Trust Pinderfields and Pontefract hospital Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust Poole Hospitals NHS Trust Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust Premier Health NHS Trust Preston Acute Hospitals NHS Trust Queen Mary's Sidcup NHS Trust Redbridge Health Care NHS Trust Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic and DH NHS Trust Rochdale Healthcare NHS Trust Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals NHS Trust Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Trust Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust Royal Devon and Exeter Healthcare NHS Trust Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen Univ. Hosp. NHS Trust Royal Liverpool Childrens NHS Trust Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases NHS Trust Royal Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Trust Royal Shrewsbury Hospitals NHS Trust Royal Surrey County Hospital NHS Trust Royal United Hospital Bath NHS Trust Salford Royal Hospitals NHS Trust Salisbury Healthcare NHS Trust Sandwell Healthcare NHS Trust Scarborough and NE yorkshire health Scunthorpe and Goole Hospitals NHS Trust Sheffield Children's Hospital Shropshire's Community and Mental Health Services NHS Trust South Buckinghamshire NHS Trust South Devon Healthcare NHS Trust South Durham health care NHS Trust South Essex Mental Health and Community Care NHS Trust South London and Maudsley NHS Trust South Manchester University Hospitals NHS Trust South Tees Acute Hospitals NHS Trust South tyneside Healthcare NHS Trust South Warwickshire General Hospital Southampton Community Health Services NHS Trust Southampton University Hospital Southend Hospital NHS Trust Southport and Ormskirk NHS Trust St George's Healthcare NHS Trust St Helens and Knowsley Hospitals St Mary's Hospital NHS Trust Stockport NHS Trust Stoke Mandeville Hospital NHS Trust Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust Swindon and Marlborough NHS Trust Tameside and Glossop Acute Services NHS Trust Taunton and Somerset NHS Trust The Cardiothoracic Centre Liverpool NHS Trust The Hammersmith Hospitals NHS Trust The Hillingdon Hospital NHS Trust The Manchester Children's Hospital The Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Trust The Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospital The Princess Alexandra Hospital The Princess Royal Hospital NHS Trust The Queen Victoria Hospital NHS Trust The Royal Free Hampstead Hospital The Royal Marsden Hospital NHS Trust The Royal National Orthopaedic NHS Trust The Royal West Sussex NHS Trust The Royal Wolverhampton Hospital The United Bristol Healthcare NHS Trust Tower Hamlets Healthcare NHS Trust Trafford Healthcare NHS Trust United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust University College London Hospitals NHS Trust University Hospital Birmingham University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust Walsall Hospitals NHS Trust Walsgrave Hospitals NHS Trust Warrington Hospital NHS Trust West Cumbria Healthcare NHS Trust West Dorset General Hospitals NHS Trust West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust West Middlesex University NHS Trust West Suffolk Hospitals NHS Trust Weston Area Health NHS Trust Whittington Hospital NHS Trust Wigan and Leigh Health Services Winchester and Eastleigh Healthcare NHS Trust Wirral Hospital NHS Trust Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust Worcestershire Community and Mental Health NHS Trust Worthing and Southlands Hospitals NHS Trust Worthing Priority Care Services NHS Trust Wrightington Hospital NHS Trust York Health Services NHS Trust
	A FCE is defined as a period of patient care under one consultant in one healthcare provider. Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), Department of Health

Private Treatment

Ian Liddell-Grainger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many NHS patients were treated by the private sector in Somerset in (a) 1999–2000, (b) 2000–01 and (c) 2001–02.

Hazel Blears: This information is not available centrally. The Department is reviewing its information needs as far as National Health Service funded activity in the private sector is concerned.

NHS Efficiency Task Force

Oliver Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Health by what procedures the work of the NHS Efficiency Task Force is evaluated.

John Hutton: holding answer 11 July 2002
	The National Health Service efficiency taskforce and its members provided specific and general advice on a range of issues relating to performance improvement. The taskforce last met on 28 June 1999. We continue to consult widely, with the NHS, academics and leading policy makers from abroad, on the range performance issues including efficiency.

National Health Service Framework

Oliver Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the budget was for the implementation of the National Service Framework on (a) cancer, (b) heart disease and (c) mental health in (i) 2002–03 and (ii) each of the previous three years.

Hazel Blears: holding answer 11 July 2002
	Resources to support the implementation of national service frameworks are largely included in allocations to health authorities.
	The NHS Cancer Plan was published in September 2000. Additional funding made available, including revenue and capital, to support its implementation after that date has been:
	
		
			 2001–02 £m 2002–03 £m 
		
		
			 280 407 
		
	
	In addition £100 million capital has been made available for CT scanners, simulators and radiotherapy planning equipment.
	The national service framework (NSF) for coronary heart disease was published in March 2000. Additional revenue to support implementation from that date has been:
	
		
			 2000–01 £m 2001–02 £m 2002–03 £m 
		
		
			 68.2 150.5 334.5 
		
	
	In addition £285 million capital has been made available, the bulk of which will spent over the next four years to fund modernisation and expansion at 12 cardiac centres.
	The NSF for mental health was published in September 1999.
	Additional revenue to support implementation of the NSF and NHS Plan from that date has been:
	
		
			 1999–2000 £m 2000–01 £m 2001–02 £m 2002–03 £m 
		
		
			 68.5 66.0 12.35 93.5 
		
	
	In addition £160 million capital has been made available, and a further £79 million for local councils with social services responsibilities.

NHS Doctors (Suspensions)

Andrew Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many NHS doctors have been suspended under the NHS disciplinary procedure in each of the past 10 years, broken down by (a) grade and (b) speciality.

John Hutton: Following Health Service Guidelines (HSG(94)49) issued in October 1994, National Health Service trusts routinely report suspensions lasting six months or longer to the Department. Figures are not available for suspensions lasting less than six months. Reliable information is only available for 1999–2001. Information is not held centrally on speciality:
	
		
			 1999 25 individuals whose suspension commenced 1 Jan–31 December 1999 
		
		
			 16 consultants 3 specialist registrars 2 staff grade doctors 1 "surgeon" 1 clinical medical officer 1 associate specialist 1 "doctor" 
			 2000 29 new suspensions which commenced during year Jan–Dec 2000 24 consultants 2 senior house officers 1 medical advisor I staff grade doctor 1 "doctor" 
			 2001 26 new suspensions which commenced during year Jan–Dec 2001 20 consultants 1 clinical medical officer 1 senior dental officer 2 staff grade doctors 2 specialist registrars 
		
	
	The Department is supporting the managers who are dealing with individual cases. It has seconded a former NHS Trust Human Resources Director to assist employers find ways to ending suspensions as quickly as possible.

NHS Plan

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress has been made in developing a comprehensive policy for the National Health Service.

John Hutton: The NHS Plan published in July 2000, set out a far reaching reform programme to redesign the National Health Service around the needs of the patient.
	Delivering the NHS Plan takes that process a stage further, by explaining how the record increases announced in this year's Budget, 7.4 per cent. per annum annual average increases above inflation, for the five years up to 2007–08, will enable us to go further and faster.

NHS Charges

Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the services provided by the National Health Service for which charges may be made.

John Hutton: Treatment provided by the National Health Service is free at the point of delivery except in cases where specific legislation has been passed allowing a charge to be made. The current services for which a charge can be made are:
	prescriptions;
	dental services;
	the supply of optical appliances by the hospital eye service;
	private patients;
	overseas visitors;
	appliances such as wigs and fabric supports.
	The NHS can also charge for the provision of accommodation and services for private resident and non-resident patients.
	In addition to the above NHS hospitals can charge for certain patient services using income generation powers. However a charge can only be made where the service is considered to be additional treatments over and above the normal service provision. Any item or service that is considered to be an integral part of a patient's treatment by their clinician remains free of charge.

NHS Structural Reorganization

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what structural reorganisations have taken place in the NHS since 1997; and what estimate he has made of the total cost to the NHS of structural reorganisation programmes since 1997.

John Hutton: We have abolished the internal market and devolved decision making in the National Health Service to the frontline. We have reduced the number of service commissioners from approximately 3,600 in 1997 to approximately 300 in 2002.
	The intention to replace general practitioner (GP) fundholding with primary care groups (PCGs) and primary care trusts (PCTs) was announced in the New NHS: Modern and Dependable as was the intention to reduce the number of health authorities (HAs) with the responsibility for commissioning services being delegated to PCGs and PCTs. This policy was reinforced by the NHS Plan and Shifting the Balance of Power. As a result of the new NHS Reform and Health Care Professions Act, the new health authorities will become strategic health authorities, and the changes to health authorities and PCTs under Shifting the Balance of Power will be in place from 1 October 2002.
	The number of NHS trusts has reduced through a series of locally led mergers and demergers with a number of community trusts merging with PCTs.
	
		The table shows the change in numbers of organisations and different levels of responsibilities within the NHS since 1 April 1997.
		
			Service Commissioners and 
			  Service Commisioners Providers Service Providers 
		
		
			 Year HAs GPFHs PCGs PCTs NHS Trusts 
			 1 April 1997 100 3,565 N/A N/A 425 
			 1 April 1998 100 3,383 N/A N/A 403 
			 1 April 1999 99 Scheme ended 481 N/A 342 
			 1 April 2000 99  459 17 326 
			 1 October 2000 95  434 40 326 
			 1 April 2001 95  239 239 318 
			 1 April 2002 28 (note 1)  1 303 274 
		
	
	Note 1:
	In practice, commissioning of services has been delegated from HAs to PCTs. HAs will become StHAs in October 2002, subject to the NHS Reform and Health Professions Bill.
	The establishment of primary care groups was funded using monies released by the abolition of GP fundholding. The previous Government had set aside an annual budget of £180 million to run fundholding. We have used those monies both to set up PCGs and to improve services to patients. Approximately £150 million additional monies was used following the establishment of PCGs. Approximately £63 million of central funding has been made available to support the establishment of primary care trusts.
	The New NHS: Modern and Dependable contained a commitment to deliver £1 billion management costs savings over five years (1997–98 to 2001–02), including £100 million in the first year. The changes as a result of Shifting the Balance of Power will release £100 million savings from reducing bureaucracy and this will be placed in a transitional fund in 2002–03 and 2003–04 and used to fund childcare facilities for NHS staff.

NHS Hospital Trust Mergers

David Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what criteria he applies when deciding whether NHS hospital trust mergers may proceed.

John Hutton: Proposals to merge National Health Service trusts are given careful consideration at all stages to ensure the best interests of patients. Among the criteria considered by my right Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State before agreeing that trust mergers may proceed are:
	Assurance that patients' interests are fully safeguarded;
	Assurance that clinical quality will be maintained, or improved, uniformly across the whole area;
	Evidence derived from the health impact assessment;
	Outcome of local public consultation;
	Evidence of support for the merger from within the NHS;
	Any specific service issues;
	Implications for staff;
	Financial considerations.

Patient Environment Inspection Programme

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the process used to grade hospitals on the 19 elements of the patient environment inspection programme, with specific reference to how each element is weighted in the final assessment.

John Hutton: Since publication of the NHS Plan, patient environment action teams (PEATs) teams have undertaken four rounds of assessment visits to acute NHS trusts each evaluating performance and progress against 19 separate elements. Scores are combined to produce a rating. Each element of the patient environment was scored on a scale of one to four, where one is poor and four is excellent.
	On the question of weighting; whilst every aspect of the assessment is important, we recognise that patients will see some areas as of greater importance than others. For this reason, in determining the final rating a hospital receives, particular attention is paid to the hospital's performance in areas of ward cleanliness, tidiness and decoration and the condition of ward furniture so that defects in these areas are not masked by good performance in other areas of assessment.
	The clean hospitals programme has had a clear impact on standards of cleanliness, decoration and supporting services. Hospitals up and down the country have responded magnificently to this, the biggest clean-up campaign in the history of the National Health Service, to the extent that by October last year there were no hospitals in England where cleaning standards were found to be less than acceptable. The latest round of PEAT visits have recently been completed and the results will be available shortly.

MRSA

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his answer of 10 May 2002, Official Report, column 403W, on hospital acquired infection, what plans he has to make representations to the International Classification of Diseases to include MRSA as a distinct code for encoding death registration data.

David Lammy: holding answer 22 July 2002
	A world health organisation technical group is developing a proposal to use additional codes to identify antimicrobial resistance in infectious diseases. Subject to official ratification, this is likely to lead to an updating of the international classification of diseases.

Hand Hygiene

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of compliance with hand hygiene protocols in NHS hospitals; and if he will make a statement.

John Hutton: Guidelines on hand hygiene were issued to the National Health Service in January 2000 and trusts are expected to have a policy in place for compliance with hand hygiene which should be audited by the local infection control team. Details of the arrangements in place at each trust are also available to the Commission for Health Improvement as part of its clinical governance review process and to the Audit Commission in their reviews of provider care.

Laundry Facilities

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to increase the number of laundry and changing facilities in NHS hospitals; and if he will make a statement.

David Lammy: Laundry and changing facilities/services are arranged by individual hospitals/trusts in relation to their local needs, as are the requirements for storage of linen and laundry

Infection Control

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to (a) increase the availability of (i) isolation or (ii) single rooms in NHS hospitals and (b) increase the use of barrier nursing with respect to infection control issues.

Hazel Blears: National Health Service hospital trusts are expected to have a policy in place for the isolation of patients with infectious diseases and are responsible for determining the level of provision of isolation and single rooms. The use of isolation facilities and barrier nursing, like other treatment decisions, will depend on the clinical judgement of the local infection control team and the clinicians involved in treating the affected patients.

Infection Control

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what changes he plans to NHS infection control policy following the identification of rancomycin resistant staphylococcus aureus in the United States.

Hazel Blears: Vancomycin resistant staphylococcus aureus (VRSA) can be contained by good infection control procedures. The national controls assurance standard already requires trusts to have effective infection control policies therefore no specific policy change is required.
	Minimising the development and spread of new strains such as VRSA requires prudent prescribing as well as strict adherence to infection control measures. These are two of the reasons why we are developing targeted action plans for healthcare associated infections and antimicrobial resistance under "Getting Ahead of the Curve", our strategy for combating infectious diseases.

Infection Control

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many cases of methicillin resistent staphylococcus aureus were identified in (a) England and (b) each NHS region in each of the last six years, including the most recent year for which figures are available.

Hazel Blears: The mandatory reporting of methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacteraemias by National Health Service acute trusts began in April 2001 and these data are published in the communicable disease report weekly. The first year's data are now available and these form a benchmark for future analysis.
	However, data for the last six years on MRSA bacteraemias voluntarily reported to the public health laboratory service by microbiology laboratories are available and these are shown in the table.
	Laboratory reports of staphylococcus aureus isolated from blood and their susceptibility to methicillin, annual totals 1996–2001.
	Laboratory reports of Staphylococcus aureus isolated from blood and their susceptibility to methicillin: England, annual totals 1996–2001
	
		
			   2001   2000   1999  
			  S. aureus Methicillin resistant per cent. S. aureus Methicillin resistant per cent. S. aureus Methicillin resistant per cent. 
		
		
			 London 1220 488 40 1078 532 49 1004 450 45  
			 North West 1324 416 31 986 347 35 1077 350 32  
			 South East 1746 728 42 1402 596 43 1250 415 33  
			 West Midlands 1935 811 42 1725 771 45 1153 498 43  
			 Northern and Yorkshire 1648 466 28 916 414 45 708 265 37  
			 Eastern 1462 603 41 1145 487 43 1113 442 40  
			 Trent 1240 441 36 1209 411 34 978 284 29  
			 South West 1277 476 37 909 372 41 897 300 33  
			 England 11852 4429 37 9370 3930 42 8180 3004 37  
		
	
	
		
			   1998   1997   1996  
			  S. aureus Methicillin resistant per cent. S. aureus Methicillin resistant per cent. S. aureus Methicillin resistant per cent. 
		
		
			 London 1032 420 41 1159 447 39 970 327 34  
			 North West 1070 289 27 1037  0 878 105 12  
			 South East 1307 392 30 1220 335 27 1077 234 22  
			 West Midlands 940 396 42 893 336 38 785 267 34  
			 Northern and Yorkshire 890 280 31 700 143 20 498 36 7  
			 Eastern 994 364 37 766 271 35 674 159 24  
			 Trent 615 189 31 601 154 26 429 58 14  
			 South West 698 191 27 700 191 27 508 87 17  
			 England 7546 2521 33 7076 1877 27 5819 1273 22

Adverse Patient Incidents

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  if he will make a statement on the Serious Hazards of Transfusion report (2000-01); and what strategy he has to reduce the number of mistakes made in patient identity.
	(2)  what action he has taken following the SHOT report to adopt new systems and technology to prevent patient identity errors.
	(3)  what (a) strategies, (b) systems and (c) technologies he plans to introduce to reduce the number of adverse patient incidents in the NHS; and if he will make a statement;
	(4)  if he will make a statement on the Spoonful of Sugar medicine management in NHS hospitals, Audit Commission report of December 2001, and what strategy he has to reduce the human and financial costs of mistakes in the NHS.
	(5)  if he will make a statement on the National Patient Safety Agency 17 June report; and what strategy he has for reducing the percentage of NHS hospital admissions that experience adverse incidents caused by human error;
	(6)  what estimate he has made of the overall cost to the NHS of adverse patient incidents in each of the last five years for which figures are available;
	(7)  what estimate he has made of the number of NHS beds lost due to adverse patient incidents in each of the last five years.

David Lammy: The Department does not collect information on the number of extended hospital stays as a result of adverse events nor figures on their financial cost. However, as reported in An Organisation with a Memory—a report of an expert group on learning from adverse events chaired by the Chief Medical Officer, it is estimated that there may be around 850,000 adverse events each year in the National Health Service which research suggests may lead to three million preventable additional hospital bed days. It is estimated that extended hospital stays as a result of adverse events costs the NHS approximately £2 billion a year.
	The Government established the National Patient Safety Agency in July 2001 to improve the safety of NHS patient care by promoting a culture of reporting and learning from adverse events, and to manage the national reporting system to support this function.
	By collecting and analysing data on adverse events the agency will be able to identify trends and patterns of avoidable adverse events, provide feedback to organisations to enable them to change their working practices, help develop models of good practice and systems solutions at national level and support ongoing education and learning.
	From September 2001 the National Patient Safety Agency ran a pilot in a small sample of trusts designed to test the system for collecting data on adverse incidents and near misses from the NHS.
	On 18 June 2002, the National Patient Safety Agency held a conference and presented initial findings of the pilot. The results of the data collection are preliminary and few conclusions can be drawn from this data at this stage. The agency will publish audited figures when they are available. The agency will be working to implement a national reporting system across the NHS from 2003.
	This will provide us with a firm evidence base on the scale of the problem and its financial consequences—a baseline allowing us to understand the real extent and nature of adverse events, and act on that knowledge.
	The Department has set a specific target which requires the NHS by 2005 to reduce by 40 per cent. the number of serious errors in the use of prescribed drugs. The Department will shortly be publishing a report highlighting processes and individual medicines that are commonly involved in medication errors. The report will also identify a range of measures that professionals and NHS organisations can use to systematically drive down the risk of medication errors across the NHS.
	The Department has broadly welcomed the Audit Commission's report on medicines management in NHS hospitals, A Spoonful of Sugar. Chief pharmacists and their staff play a key part in medicines management and it is helpful to see this role highlighted. The report reinforces the Department's medicines management performance management framework.

Adverse Patient Incidents

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what (a) technologies and (b) systems he plans to introduce in the NHS to reduce the risk of the wrong drugs or inappropriate quantities of drugs being given to patients; and if he will make a statement.

David Lammy: It is recognised that the manual writing of prescriptions and the manual dispensing of drugs is associated with a significant error rate. Measures to combat this include the following.
	In primary care technologies are already in place within general practitioner's (GP's) clinical practice system to help identify the risks involved in prescribing of drugs to patients. PRODIGY is a computer-based decision and learning support system contained within the GP practice system, which offers a series of recommendations in prescribing and organisation of treatment for conditions.
	In secondary care information for health the strategy for information services in the National Health Service recommended the introduction of electronic records into all acute trusts. Electronic prescribing systems were specifically mentioned as part of those electronic records. It is intended by 2008 that all acute trusts will have electronic prescribing systems, most acute trusts by 2005. The use of these systems will lead to a reduction in errors that can occur.
	In the pharmacy, "Pharmacy in the Future—Implementing the NHS Plan", emphasised the need to re-engineer hospital pharmacy services to be more efficient, timely and safe and more patient focussed. Use of modern automation technology was seen as one way of facilitating this. This was reinforced in the Audit Commission report "A Spoonful of Sugar". Consideration is currently being given to the commissioning of a national specification for automated dispensary systems for the NHS and earmarking of funding for their introduction.

Adverse Patient Incidents

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the level of compensation to be budgeted for by the NHS in respect of adverse patient incidents in the (a) current and (b) next financial years.

David Lammy: Compensation is only paid where there is a liability to do so, and payments are usually made following settlement of clinical negligence claims. According to the National Audit Office Summarised Accounts for the National Health Service (2001) a provision of £4.4 billion was calculated for liabilities relating to all current clinical negligence claims and ones which may arise from incidents which have incurred but not yet been reported. These liabilities will include compensation as well as legal and other costs which are not identified separately in the accounts.

GM Crops

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on recent research regarding genetically modified DNA material from crops finding its way into human stomach bacteria.

Hazel Blears: Research funded by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) has demonstrated that the likelihood of gene transfer from genetically modified crops into gut bacteria is extremely low and that fragments of DNA that survive in the gut are too small to change the nature of human gut bacteria.
	Reports of the research are published on the FSA web site and copies have been placed in the Library.

Vaccinated Meat

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to prepare (a) consumers and (b) retailers for the possibility of eating or selling meat that has been vaccinated for foot and mouth disease.

Hazel Blears: The Food Standards Agency has advised that there are no health concerns for consumers from eating meat, milk or other produce from animals vaccinated with any of the foot and mouth disease vaccines that are being considered for possible future use in the United Kingdom. The vaccine cannot infect people. All of the other ingredients in the vaccine are commonly used and do not give rise to safety issues.

Press Office

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) full time equivalents were employed by his press office and (b) secondees were placed in his press office in the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

David Lammy: holding answer 22 July 2002
	Detailed information on the number of press officers employed by the Department during the financial year 1997–98 and 1998–99 was provided in Appendix II of the report "The Government Information and Communications Service" (HC 770) published by the Select Committee on Public Administration in 29 July 1998. Copies are available in the Library.
	
		The table shows press office staff for January 2000, 2001, 2002
		
			  Jan 2000 Jan 2001 Jan 2002 
		
		
			 No. Staff in Media Centre—Press Officers 16 19 22 
		
	
	Two secondees have been placed in the Department's press office over the last five years.

E-government

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the costs were relating to the Department's websites for the financial year ended March; which company dealt with the website development; and if he will make a statement.

David Lammy: holding answer 23 July 2002
	The cost of the Department's website for the financial year ending March 2002 are shown in the table.
	
		
			 Hosting and maintenance (£0,000) Website development and user research (£0,000) Estimated staff costs (£0,00) TOTAL (£0,000) 
		
		
			 73.32 245.9 339.7 658.92 
		
	
	Website development and user research was undertaken by Worth Media and Planetary Tribe respectively in conjunction with Department staff.
	The website regularly receives in the region of five million hits per month and is consistently placed in the top six most-visited Government website's.

Parliamentary Questions

Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  whether it is his policy to ensure that documents referred to in parliamentary answers are available via his Department's website;
	(2)  for how long he retains documents referred to in parliamentary answers on his Department's website.

David Lammy: The Department aims to be as helpful as possible in responding to hon. Members' Questions. Where it is helpful to refer hon. Members to other documents as part of the substantive reply, this may be done by making hard copies of documents available in the Library, or by reference to material available on the Department's website.
	The majority of departmental publications are made available on the website through the Publications Library (POINT). The Department current policy is to retain all published online material on our website. This will be reviewed in the context of The Office of the e-Envoy's guidance on archiving websites when available.
	The Department complies with minimum requirements set out in the Office of the e-Envoy's "Guidelines for UK Government Websites".

Parliamentary Questions

Graham Allen: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average time taken by his Department to answer questions has been this Session; and if he will make a statement.

David Lammy: The information requested can only be provided at a disproportionate cost. This is because the Department's Parliamentary database does not readily provide this information, which could only be obtained therefore by a manual count of the records. The Department has received over 10,000 written questions this Session so far. Even to perform the calculations on a reasonable sample would incur a disproportionate cost. A new database is being developed for the next session that should be able to provide this kind of management information on a routine basis.
	The Department fully recognises the need to ensure that hon. Members receive prompt, timely and helpful replies to their questions. Ministers make every effort to ensure that this important instrument of accountability is given the priority that it needs and deserves. Where there are regrettable delays in answering questions this stems from a proper desire to maintain high standards of accuracy and helpfulness in replies. We will, however, continue to strive to make further progress with the equally important yardstick of timeliness.

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Azerbaijan

Robert Wareing: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will seek the co-operation of British companies engaged in oil exploration in Azerbaijan in assisting that country to deal with refugees; and if she will make a statement.

Clare Short: Resolution of the refugee problem in Azerbaijan is ultimately dependent on a political settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh dispute with Armenia, which would permit resettlement of those displaced by the conflict.
	My Department is currently funding a number of activities in Azerbaijan which seek to encourage greater responsibility from the private sector in ensuring that the benefits of their activities are widely shared.

HIV/AIDS

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what contribution her Department is making to the efforts to achieve quality epidemiology and behavioural surveillance in the fight against AIDS in Asia.

Clare Short: We are supporting major HIV/AIDS programmes in six countries in the Asia: China, India, Cambodia, Vietnam, Nepal, and Bangladesh. We are also considering programmes in other countries eg. Pakistan and Burma.
	In all cases a critical component of that work is more effective epidemiology and enhanced behavioural surveillance, particularly in the two most populous countries of China and India. We are seeking to integrate such activities into national programmes and thereby enable improved chances for sustainability.
	Due to the weaknesses in knowledge about the nature and scale of epidemic, this is key to organising a more effective response to HIV/AIDS in the region.

HIV/AIDS

Paul Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will make a statement on her Department's plans to target resources at supporting HIV/AIDS projects in developing nations.

Clare Short: My Department's plans for supporting HIV/AIDS projects are outlined in the HIV/AIDS Strategy Paper which was published in May 2001. A copy is in the Library of the House.

HIV/AIDS

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to the answer of 25 February 2002, Official Report, columns 883–886W, what is meant by rights-based response to HIV/AIDS in Nepal; and if she will make a statement.

Clare Short: The UK has contributed £1.6 million to assist the Government of Nepal to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS into the general population, through interventions to stabilise and contain the concentrated epidemic among female sex workers and injecting drug users. These are vulnerable groups that are often harassed, stigmatised and have restricted access to services. The rights-based approach recognises the need to protect them from further marginalisation and discrimination, and to uphold their rights with regards to privacy, health and education.
	The UK is also assisting the Government of Nepal with the development of its HIV/AIDS strategy for the next five years, and plans to make more resources available to implement the strategy.

Yugoslavia

John Randall: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what discussions she has had recently with representatives of the Government of Yugoslavia about refugees within Yugoslavia.

Clare Short: Assistance for refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia falls under the remit of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the European Commission Humanitarian Affairs Office (ECHO). We are supporting the work of these agencies by contributing significant amounts of funds, including 19.7 per cent. of the C=69.3 million ECHO budget (made up of C=47.8 million to Rep. of Serbia, C=14 million to Kosovo and C=7.5 million to Rep. of Montenegro).
	In addition to this, we are working very closely with the Yugoslav and Serbian authorities on a programme of social and economic reforms that will help to improve the living conditions of the poorest people in the FRY, including refugees and IDPs. We are funding a £3.2 million programme of social policy reforms that will strengthen the delivery of social welfare, health, employment and education services in Serbia. We are also working closely with the World Bank on a major social services adjustment credit that will enable the Serbian authorities to make further progress in these areas.
	These plans are described in detail in our Country Strategy Paper for the FRY, which is available in the library of the House.

Nepal

Jenny Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment she has made of the situation with regard to food and water security in rural Nepal.

Clare Short: Food insecurity in Nepal is severe and is greatest in the hill and mountain regions. There is growing concern over a possible humanitarian crisis emerging in the mid- and far-west regions of Nepal due to the initial failure of this year's monsoon in these areas.
	The situation is being made worse by the conflict. The Maoists have looted food intended for development programmes, but more seriously the army has imposed food restrictions in at least 8 districts, preventing traders from going into the hills and severely restricting the food individuals can carry. The harvest is already down in these areas because of the late monsoon, and because men did not return from seasonal work in India to take part in planting. Fear of both Maoists and security forces was the key factor. With little accurate information currently available, DFID will support more intensive monitoring by the World Food Programme.
	As regards water security, access to drinking water is not a major problem though the safety of this water is questionable. DFID is currently supporting programmes to enhance water supply and sanitation across rural Nepal.

Millennium Development Goals

Jon Owen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she estimates that, as a result of the G8 talks, the UK is on target to meet its millennium development goals; and if she will make a statement.

Clare Short: I refer my hon. Friend to my reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Sittingbourne and Sheppey (Mr. Wyatt) on 7 May, Official Report, column 15W. The G8 Summit focoused on the challenges facing Africa where least progress is being made. It produced valuable commitments of support for Africa in promoting peace and security; providing education for all; tackling HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis and overcoming the burden of unpayable debt. If African Governments deliver strong policy commitments, Africa can expect at least an additional $6 billion a year in development assistance, as a result of the Summit, to help accelerate its progress there towards the Goals.
	Progress towards the Millennium Development Goals is monitored globally by the UN Department for Social and Economic Affairs, using data provided by a range of international bodies and country governments. UN country teams lead on country-level reporting, co-ordinated by UNDP.

Commodity Prices

Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what the UK intends to do with other Governments to address the effect of international commodity prices in Johannesburg.

Clare Short: There are no proposals for a statement on commodity prices at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg.
	The prices of a number of internationally traded commodities have fallen dramatically in recent years. This has had an effect in producer countries at the household level (e.g. ability to purchase food and medicines) as well as at a higher, national, level (e.g. in terms of foreign exchange earnings, debt repayment ability etc.).
	Many of the poorest countries, particularly in Africa, remain dependent on a narrow range of commodity exports. We are committed to helping commodity dependent exporting countries reduce their vulnerability to the effects of world commodity prices.
	The UK, through its development programme and other endeavours at the international level, is supporting a range of actions that seek to expand the trade opportunities of these countries in order to reduce their dependence on primary agricultural commodity exports. Existing trade barriers (including tariff escalation) are a major impediment to this. The UK is not only working to secure reform of international trade rules in general but also to reduce the impact of protectionist regimes such as the Common Agricultural Policy.
	There is scope for creating a more favourable domestic environment within commodity dependent countries themselves. This is necessary to generate the economic growth and other conditions that contribute to developing the means by which they can reduce their vulnerability to external shocks such as unfavourable price movements. The UK provides support to a variety of activities in this regard. These range from actions to enable local institutions to become more efficient and innovative, through to securing improvements in the regulatory framework in order to facilitate the development of local enterprises and attract foreign investment.

World Trade Organisation

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps her Department is taking to enable poor countries fully to participate in meetings of the World Trade Organisation.

Clare Short: During the normal course of WTO business in Geneva, there can be 26–40 meetings per week which some countries must cover with a delegation of 2–3 people, while others have no representation in Geneva and must follow the issues from their capital. The Ministerial Declaration at Doha made wide-ranging commitments to trade-related capacity-building for poor countries, and stated that
	"priority shall . . . be accorded to Members and Observers without representation in Geneva".
	To meet that commitment, a task force was appointed by interested Ministers to examine the feasibility of expanding an existing organisation, the Agency for International Trade Information and Cooperation (AITIC) into an inter-governmental organisation with a wider mandate than at present. AITIC is a Swiss NGO which has since 1998 been supporting countries with little or no representation in Geneva by drafting briefing notes on difficult issues, offering a neutral forum for discussion, organising workshops and training seminars, running an "early warning system" on key issues, etc. The UK strongly supports this work and has made a commitment of £1m to support the first phase of AITIC's work as an IGO. This forms part of the UK's overall commitment to allocate £45m (of which £38 million has already been committed) to trade-related capacity-building work between 1998 and 2003.

Development Funds

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development 
	(1)  if she will provide a breakdown of her Department's expenditure since 1998–99 on the African Development Fund;
	(2)  if she will provide a breakdown of her Department's expenditure since 1998–99 on the Caribbean Development Fund.

Clare Short: The figures requested are available in Statistics on International Development (SID), Table 8 which shows a breakdown of gross public expenditure on multilateral contributions for the last five financial years.
	A copy of this publication is available in the Library of the House.

Liberia

John Barrett: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development 
	(1)  how she has responded to the appeal by the UNHCR for emergency assistance for Liberian refugees; and if she will make a statement;
	(2)  if she will make a statement on the abduction of UNHCR nurses from the Sinje refugee camp in Liberia by LURD rebels.

Clare Short: My Department is considering UNHCR's appeal for emergency support for Liberian refugees. I am informed that five Liberian nurses working for the non-governmental organisation MERCI were abducted from Sinje refugee camp in north-west Liberia on 20 June. Their abduction from the UNHCR-run camp, where they provided healthcare to residents, followed attacks on the camp by LURD rebels. Despite attempts by UNHCR and others to locate and secure the release of the nurses, their whereabouts is still unknown.

Basic Education Project, Nigeria

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what financial support her Department is giving in 2002–03 to the Universal Basic Education Project in Nigeria.

Clare Short: In support of the Federal Government of Nigeria's efforts to achieve Universal Basic Education, the Department for International Development has funded the Support to Education Sector Analysis and Planning Project. This £556,000 project is providing assistance to Nigeria for their implementation of Universal Basic Education.
	In addition to this, my department is at present collaborating closely with the World Bank towards the development of a programme of Technical Assistance that will assist Nigeria in working towards the achievement of the Universal Basic Education Millennium Goal. This proposal will be submitted to Senior Management for approval within the next few weeks.

Sudan

Tony Colman: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what efforts have been made to support the peace process in Sudan under the auspices of the Inter-Governmental Authority of Drought (a) through diplomatic means and (b) through financial assistance.

Clare Short: The UK has engaged fully and been present as an observer throughout the latest round of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) peace talks from 17 June to 20 July in Machakos, Kenya. To date we have provided £101,119 in financial support to the IGAD secretariat.

Overseas Superannuation

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much money was spent by her Department in each year since 1998–99 on overseas superannuation, referred to on page 98 of the 2002 departmental report.

Clare Short: Details of Overseas Superannuation expenditure for each year to 2000–01 are given in line two of Table 1 on page 98 of the Departmental Report 2002.

Kenya

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what 
	(1)  discussions her Department has had with the UNHCR regarding the protection afforded to refugees in Kenya and the security of refugee camps in Kenya; and if she will make a statement.
	(2)  if she will make a statement on the UNHCR's resettlement policy in East Africa, with specific reference to Kenya;
	(3)  what links her Department has with the UNHCR offices in Kenya;
	(4)  what discussions her Department has had with (a) the UNHCR, (b) the Kenyan Government and (c) refugees in Kenya regarding the resettlement of refugees in Kenya;
	(5)  what action she has taken to counter corruption in the Kenyan office of the UNHCR;
	(6)  what the UNHCR has spent in the last 12 months in Kenya.

Clare Short: The UNHCR programme in Kenya currently assists a refugee population of over 213,000; 129,000 of whom are Somalis and 70,000 are Sudanese. The cost of the programme was over $25.2 million in 2001 (see table below), and has a budget of $18.1 million in 2002.
	UNHCR's programme aims to provide international protection and humanitarian assistance to refugees in Kenya while exploring durable solutions to assist refugees, mainly voluntary repatriation to their country of origin.
	Unfortunately local integration of refugees is extremely limited, due to limited freedom of movement, access to resources, markets and job opportunities. In addition, continued conflict in refugees' countries of origin seriously limits opportunities for repatriation. As a result, UNHCR's main activities, in cooperation with the Government of Kenya (as well as WFP, UNICEF and UNESCO), have been in providing asylum for refugees by guaranteeing their legal protection and physical security; as well as offering income generating activities, refugee employment, education, vocational training and healthcare. UNHCR also offers assistance to refugees who wish to voluntarily repatriate themselves.
	The hon. Lady's second question asked if the Secretary of State will make a statement on the UNHCR's resettlement policy in East Africa, with specific reference to Kenya.
	UNHCR's resettlement policy in East Africa, as elsewhere, is to help refugees with particular refugee needs and concerns over repatriation and local integration, to seek asylum in third countries. DFID has not discussed resettlement with UNHCR, the Kenyan Government or refugees.
	The hon. Lady's third question asked what links the Secretary of State's Department has with the UNHCR offices in Kenya.
	DFID contributed £550,000 in 2000–01 and a similar amount in 2001–02 to UNHCR's programme in Kenya.
	DFID staff based in London and Nairobi undertook a monitoring mission on the UNHCR Kenya programme in January 2000.
	The hon. Lady's fourth question asked what discussions the Secretary of State's Department has had with (a) the UNHCR, (b) the Kenyan Government and (c) refugees in Kenya regarding the resettlement of refugees in Kenya.
	Both DFID and BHC officials in Nairobi are in regular contact with UNHCR Kenya. We continue to monitor closely the refugee situation in the established camps and the border areas of Kenya through regular dialogue with UNHCR officials and other concerned agencies.
	The hon. Lady's fifth question asked what action the Secretary of State has taken to counter corruption in the Kenyan offices of the UNHCR.
	Allegations of corruption in UNHCR's offices in Kenya led to the security section of UNHCR undertaking an investigation in December 1999. The report, issued in June 2000, did not substantiate the allegations but recommended further investigation take place. While UNHCR branch officers in Nairobi were following up the allegations, threats were made against three officers. This led to the Inspector General of UNHCR calling in the UN Office of Investigation and Oversight Services (OIOS) in October 2000 to conduct an investigation.
	The findings of the OIOS investigation suggested that outside expertise was needed. Hence in December OIOS approached 4 donor governments (including the UK) to provide qualified staff to participate in an international investigation task force. DFID provided (on secondment) the services of a Detective Chief Inspector. The UK cost of this secondment was £13,117. Overseas costs were met by UNHCR.
	The hon. Lady's sixth question asked if the Secretary of State will provide a breakdown of the UNHCR's spending in Kenya.
	
		The table below lists UNHCR's expenditure in Kenya for the period 2000–01.
		
			  $ 
		
		
			 Protection, monitoring and co-ordination 1,884,948 
			 Community services 306,195 
			 Crop production 5,062 
			 Domestic needs/ household support 1,133,801 
			 Education 1,033,720 
			 Food 103,645 
			 Forestry 146,633 
			 Health / nutrition 1,833,852 
			 Income generation 52,598 
			 Legal assistance 1,392,474 
			 Operational support to agencies 2,232,028 
			 Sanitation 64,287 
			 Shelter / other infrastructure 466,866 
			 Transport / logistics 1,180,706 
			 Water 628,294 
			 Transit accounts 4,193 
			 Instalments with implementing partners 3,405,684 
			 Programme Support 7,881,027 
			 Unliquidated obligations 1,468,447 
			 Total 25,244,460 
		
	
	Source:
	UNHCR Global report 2001 (page 171).

Kenya

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development when she last visited Kenya; whom she met; what discussions she had; and when she next intends to visit Kenya.

Clare Short: I last made a substantive visit to Kenya in August 1998. I have visited the country very briefly on a number of occasions since then. I have no specific plans to visit again. The Under-Secretary visited Kenya earlier this month as part of her own induction programme. She met a wide range of people, including the Minister of Finance, and visited programmes supported by DFID. Her discussions focused on the prospects for poverty reduction in Kenya, and how the international community, including DFID, can best support Kenya's efforts to achieve it.

Human Rights (Rwanda)

Andrew Love: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what activities are being undertaken in (a) Rwanda and (b) Burundi by her Department to improve the human rights situation; and if she will make a statement.

Clare Short: DFID is the largest bilateral donor to Rwanda providing £30 million a year. Our programme is set within the framework of a Memorandum of Understanding which includes commitments in areas such as human rights and governance.
	The human rights situation in Rwanda has improved for the majority of individuals since 1997. The establishment of the Human Rights Commission and the Commission for National Unity and Reconciliation are evidence of the Government of Rwanda's commitment to eliminating human rights abuses and to the reconciliation process. The Government have held successful local level elections in 2001 supported by DFID, but the end of the transitional period brings new challenges as Rwanda moves towards full national elections in 2003. DFID are supporting work to draft a new constitution.
	We believe that the Government's commitment to end the cycle of ethnic tension, to maintain stability within Rwanda, to eliminate poverty and improve the lives of all Rwandans is genuine and their policies are moving them in the right direction. However, we monitor closely reports of human rights abuses and raise our concerns with GoR accordingly.

New Partnership for Africa's Development

Mark Lazarowicz: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will provide support for the British Council's plans to develop its programmes in support of the New Partnership for Africa's Development.

Clare Short: The British Council's funding is provided by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Any plans for developing programmes in support of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) would therefore be for the FCO's consideration.

Land Reform Programmes

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will list the countries in which her Department supports land reform programmes.

Clare Short: In the current financial year DFID is supporting land reform activities in the countries listed below. Further details of these projects are available from the Department's on-line database at www.narsis.org. Please note that in the last two cases—South Africa (where we provided an earlier phase of support), and the SADC region, our support to land reform is currently in the design stage.
	
		
			  
		
		
			 Bangladesh Kyrgyzstan Rwanda 
			 Croatia Moldova Ukraine 
			 Guyana Mozambique South Africa 
			 Kenya Russia SADC 
		
	
	The hon. Lady's second question asked if the Secretary of State will list the countries in which her Department operates a sector wide approach to development. (73283)
	My Department supports one or more sector wide approaches in a number of aid dependent Low Income Countries, including in Bangladesh, Ghana, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.
	The hon. Lady's third question asked what the Secretary of State is doing to promote good government in Ethiopia. (73287)
	We are currently developing a partnership with the Ethiopian Government and as part of this process we are formulating our Country Assistance Plan for Ethiopia. Our Plan will be based on the Ethiopian Government's Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper, which includes a commitment to good governance. We are considering support through our programme for Civil Service Reform and capacity building of local government. We also have a Partnership Fund, which has the objective of increasing awareness, accountability and responsiveness of government to the public and civil society.
	The hon. Lady's fourth question asked what assistance the Secretary of State's Department has provided (a) bilaterally and (b) multilaterally to the EPRDF in Ethiopia in each of the last five years. (73284)
	The DFID bilateral programme has not provided any financial or technical assistance to the EPRDF in any of the last five years. We are not aware of any specific multilateral contributions direct to the EPRDF.
	The hon. Lady's fifth question asked what steps the Secretary of State's Department is taking to encourage Ethiopia to fulfil its obligations under the Convention of the Child. (73285)
	Implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), which has been signed by Ethiopia, is monitored by the Committee of the Rights of the Child, who examine reports submitted by States' such as Ethiopia. Under the CRC, UNICEF has a legal obligation to promote and protect child rights by supporting the work of the Committee. DFID has been supporting UNICEF to increase its capacity to apply human rights principles and the provisions of the Convention in the design and implementation of its programmes. UNICEF has been testing out rights-based programming in East Africa including Ethiopia. DFID is also funding a project to rehabilitate street children into their communities and to raise awareness of children's issues in Addis Ababa.

Reproductive Health Programmes

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to her answer of 25 February 2002, Official Report, columns 883–886W, how much money her Department has given in support of the Russian Family Planning Association per annum since 1997; what that represents in percentage terms of her Department's per annum expenditure for population reproductive health programmes; if she will explain the makeup of the Russian Family Planning Association; and if she will make a statement.

Clare Short: My Department funded the International Planned Parenthood Federation's (IPPF) European Network to provide technical assistance to the Russian Family Planning Association (RFPA) from March 1995 to June 2002. The purpose of our support has been to ensure that accurate information about reproductive health is disseminated in Russia, through the leadership of the RFPA. The total value of funding provided to IPPF during this period has been £390,000, over two project phases. Annual expenditure since 1997 has been as follows:
	FY 1997–1998—£23,567
	FY 1998–1999—£39,001
	FY 1999–2000—nil
	FY 2000–2001—£54,351
	FY 2001–2002—£140,370
	FY 2002–2003—£55,000 (expected)
	My Department spent approximately £206 million on sexual and reproductive health in financial year 2001–02. My Department's expenditure on this project in that year therefore represents less than 0.07 per cent. of annual expenditure. The RFPA is a non-governmental organisation, based in Moscow. My Department reviewed this project in January 2002 and concluded that its purpose was likely to be largely achieved. No further assistance to the RFPA is planned.

Reproductive Health Programmes

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to her answer of 25 February 2002, Official Report, columns 883–886W, how much money her Department has given to the (a) health and sexual education programme in Bolivia since 1997 and (b) Orissa Reproductive Health Project in India in each year since 1997; what these amounts represent in percentage terms of her Department's per annum expenditure for population reproductive health programmes; and if she will make a statement.

Clare Short: My Department has spent the following amounts on each project listed since 1997. Expenditure has also been expressed as a percentage of DFID's annual spend on sexual and reproductive health activities in each year;
	
		
			 £ actuals 1997–98  1998–99  1999–2000  2000–01  
		
		
			  Spend % of annual 
			 Reproductive 
			 Health spend 
			  Spend 
			  % of annual 
			 Reproductive 
			 Health spend 
			  Spend % of annual 
			 Reproductive 
			 Health spend Spend % of annual 
			 Reproductive 
			 Health spend 
			 Health and Sexual Education 
			 Programme, Bolivia 629,943 1.6 482,458 1.1 718,940 0.9 1,162,010 0.9 
			 Orissa Reproductive Health 
			 Project, India 287,386 0.7 475,214 1.1 409,765 0.5 422,428 0.3

Reproductive Health Programmes

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to her answer of 25 February 2002, Official Report, columns 883–886W, how much money her Department has given to (a) the reproductive health programme in Peru, (b) the STD programme in the Russian Federation and (c) the Central American regional programme for improving sexual and reproductive health services in each year since 1997; what these amounts represent in percentage terms of her Department's per annum expenditure for population reproductive health programmes; and if she will make a statement.

Clare Short: My Department has spent the following amounts on each of the programmes listed since 1997. Expenditure has also been expressed as a percentage of DFID's annual spend on sexual and reproductive health activities in each year;
	
		
			  1997–98  1998–99  1999–2000  2000–01  
		
		
			 £ actuals Value % of Annual 
			 Reproductive 
			 Health Spend Value % of Annual 
			 Reproductive 
			 Health Spend Value % of Annual 
			 Reproductive 
			 Health Spend Value % of Annual 
			 Reproductive 
			 Health Spend 
			 Reproductive Health 
			 Programme, Peru 1,020,190 2.6 1,034,011 2.3 966.677 1.3 533,948 0.4 
			 STD Programme, Russian 
			 Federation - - 388,707 0.8 150,019 0.2 207,896 0.2 
			 Central American Regional 
			 Programme on Sexual and 
			 Reproductive Health - - - - - - 323,170 0.2

Radioactive Floodwaters

Jim Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent reports she has received for assistance for containing radioactive floodwaters in Kyrgystan and Uzbekistan; and how she proposes to respond to them.

Clare Short: No reports have been received, but my Officials have recently obtained a World Bank commissioned technical assessment on landslide and uranium tailings problems and options for remediation in Kyrgyzstan. My Department has not been asked to respond to the technical assessment.

Lebanon

Andrew Love: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent assistance she has given to the Government of Lebanon for the re-building of its infrastucture; and if she will make a statement.

Clare Short: My Department has a very small bilateral development assistance programme in Lebanon. We contribute to multilateral institutions (including the World Bank, IMF and EC) which are implementing larger programmes in Lebanon. The Government of Lebanon would be able to raise any issue of concern with these institutions directly.

Biotechnology Research Projects

Alan Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what biotechnology research projects in (a) agriculture and (b) biomedics have been supported by her Department; and what public investment has gone into them in each of the last three years.

Clare Short: Separate data are not maintained of the many projects using biotechnology techniques for research purposes.
	Biotechnology research projects in agriculture and related disciplines involving the potential release of genetically modified organisms in developing countries, and studies on genetic modification issues, are listed on the DFID website www.dfid.gov.uk. Expenditure on these projects in the last three years was: 1999–2000 £645,136; 2000–01 £767,479; 2001–02 £873,516.
	A briefing note on genetically modified organisms and developing countries is also on the website.
	DFID invests in biomedical research to develop new drugs, vaccines and other products to prevent disease in developing countries.
	Since 2001, £1.5 million has been invested in the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative. The Medicines for Malaria Venture has been given £1 million a year over the last three years to expedite discovery of the next generation of anti-malarial drugs.
	Through the UK Medical Research Council (MRC), DFID began funding a five year £16 million Microbicides Development Programme in the current financial year. In addition, DFID's concordat with the MRC involves a contribution in excess of £4 million a year to their research portfolio which includes basic biomedical research relevant to the health of poor people in developing countries.
	DFID's contribution of about £10 million a year to the World Health Organisation includes funds for its tropical diseases research programme. This funding is not earmarked and data are not available of the exact sums going to the programme and the amounts used for biomedical research.

EU Committees

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development when the EU Committee for the implementation of the Regulation establishing an Instrument for Structural Policies for Pre-accession is next due to meet; whether representatives of the Scottish Executive (a) have been and (b) are members of it; and if she will make a statement.

Clare Short: The next meeting of the EU Committee of the Instrument for Structural Policies for Pre-accession (ISPA) is due to take place in October 2002; the exact date has yet to be decided.
	Schedule 5 of the 1998 Scottish Act sets out areas of policy that are reserved, that is, where responsibility has not been devolved to the Scottish Executive. Section 7 (1) of Schedule 5 states:
	"International relations, including relations with territories outside the United Kingdom, the European Communities (and their institutions) and other organisations, regulation of international trade, and international development assistance and co-operation are reserved matters."
	The United Kingdom is represented on the ISPA Committee by officials from the Department for International Development and the United Kingdom Permanent Representation to the European Commission.

Deforestation

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what her Department's policy is on deforestation.

Clare Short: Deforestation is a serious problem in many countries but it affects people in different ways and is not always harmful. It is driven by many factors that vary in nature and scale from place to place. Some of these factors, such as unsustainable timber extraction, are linked to the forest sector while others, such as agricultural and energy policies, lie outside the forest sector.
	Each country has a particular set of circumstances, in terms both of the direct and underlying causes of deforestation and of the scope for action in addressing them. My Department works with developing countries to address the underlying causes of deforestation in the context of their national forest programmes and wider strategies for sustainable development. We have also supported work by the Intergovernmental Forum on Forest on the underlying causes of deforestation and forest degradation.

Commission on Intellectual Property Rights

Bob Blizzard: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development 
	(1)  when the Commission on Intellectual Property Rights was established; what it's terms of Reference are; who its members are and on what occassions it has meet.
	(2)  when she expects the Commission on Intellectual Property Rights to report.

Clare Short: The Commission was established on 8 May 2001.
	Details of the terms of reference, Commission members and meetings can be found on the CIPR website at: www.iprcommission.org.
	The Commission's report will be published on 12 September 2002. I will place copies in the Library of the House.
	The Department for International Development answered the following questions by letter during the Whitsun recess in May and June 2002

Middle East

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to her answers of 9 May, 2002, Official Report, column 290W, on humanitarian assistance (Middle East), what the UK contribution to European Union and World Bank activities in the Territories Controlled by the Palestinian Authority was in each of the past 10 years, broken down by (a) monetary value, (b) percentage of activity total and (c) percentage of her Department's annual spending total; and if she will make a statement.

Clare Short: The UK contribution to the European Commission is given in the table:
	
		
			 Year UK share of EC assistance to Palestinians (£ millions) UK share as percentage of total EC Palestinian Activities UK share as a percentage of UK Official Development Assistance 
		
		
			 1994 12.8 15.0 0.6  
			 1995 15.3 16.0 0.8  
			 1996 11.5 14.5 0.6  
			 1997 12.9 14.3 0.7  
			 1998 14.7 19.1 0.8  
			 1999 15.4 17.8 0.8  
			 2000 26.8 19.0 1.2  
		
	
	
		The UK contribution to the World Bank is given in the table below
		
			 Year UK Share of World Bank Disbursements to the West Bank and Gaza Strip (£ millions) UK share as a percentage of the World Bank's Trust Fund for the West Bank and Gaza Strip UK share as a percentage of UK Official Development Assistance 
		
		
			 1995 0.4 5 0.02  
			 1996 0.7 5 0.04  
			 1997 1.4 5 0.08  
			 1998 1.7 5 0.09  
			 1999 0.9 5 0.04  
			 2000 1.2 5 0.05  
			 2001 1.0 5 0.04  
		
	
	The European Commission (EC) and World Bank programmes did not commence until 1994 and 1995 respectively. EC Data for 2001 has not yet been confirmed. The figures are calculated using approximate exchange rates for Euros and US Dollars. The percentage figure for our share of World Bank spending is an average of the various Bank instruments.

Middle East

Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what support Her Majesty's Government are providing in the rebuilding of Angola.

Clare Short: We have been following events in Angola closely. We strongly welcome recent moves towards peace and the agreement signed in Luanda on 4 April, which established a ceasefire after 30 years of civil war. A lasting peace is the key to development in Angola which is a country of enormous economic potential whose people are living in desperate poverty.
	We are working with Angola bilaterally, as well as with our international partners and the United Nations. The humanitarian situation remains critical. And there is an urgent need to provide relief to the Unita fighters and their families gathered in the Quartering Areas. We are encouraging the UN to engage and the international community and Angolan Government to provide more resources for the relief effort. The UK will continue to play its part in meeting urgent humanitarian needs. DFID also has a small development assistance programme focused on long term poverty reduction for the large numbers of people, forced by the conflict, to migrate into urban areas. This totalled £2 million in the last financial year.
	I undertook on my visit to Luanda to discuss Angola's situation with the IMF and World Bank and did so with Jim Wolfensohn and Horst Kohler and their staff at the spring meetings in Washington. We will continue to work to encourage reform so that the rich natural resources of Angola are used for the benefit of its people.

Angola

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment her Department has made of the humanitarian situation in Angola; what emergency aid is (a) being delivered and (b) planned by her Department; and if she will make a statement.

Clare Short: My Department continues to monitor closely the humanitarian situation in Angola, which remains serious. Millions of Angolans are living under life threatening conditions and humanitarian agencies are working at full capacity to alleviate the worst aspects of the humanitarian crisis in the country.
	We recently contributed £1 million to the 2002 United Nations Inter Agency Consolidated Appeal for Angola to ensure that critical needs are met and gaps in humanitarian assistance are covered during the sudden onset of emergencies. We also recently contributed £300,000 toward the International Red Cross country appeal for 2002 and £450,000 toward Medecins Sans Frontieres emergency health and sanitation programmes in Kuito, one of the worst effected areas in the country.
	We are planning to spend some £2 million on humanitarian aid during the current financial year. We are also examining the potential for a specific DFID contribution to assist with the demobilisation of UNITA fighters.
	Her Majesty's Government remains in close contact with the Government of Angola and international partners. We will remain at the forefront of diplomatic and political efforts to ensure that the internationals system engages effectively with the Government of Angola to deliver humanitarian aid more effectively, so that the peace process is reinforced.

Central Asia

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much her Department (a) pledged and (b) delivered to (i) Kazakhstan, (ii) Kyrgyzstan, (iii) Tajikistan, (iv) Turkmenistan and (v) Uzbekistan in each year from 1997 to September 2001; how much has been (A) pledged and (B) delivered to each country since September 2001; and if she will make a statement.

Clare Short: Figures up to September 2001 are not readily available as the department's records are maintained on a financial year basis as follows:
	
		
			  1997/98 1998/99 1999/2000 2000/01 
		
		
			 £ thousand pledged/ 
			 delivered pledged/ 
			 delivered pledged/ 
			 delivered pledged/ 
			 delivered 
			 Kazakhstan 2,000/2,145 1,500/1,345 1,500/1,082 1,170/908 
			 Kyrgyzstan 600/528 650/442 1,100/1,223 2,000/1,509 
			 Tajikistan 100/24 100/732 130/45 100/640 
			 Turkmenistan 200/240 300/194 200/97 100/111 
			 Uzbekistan 700/586 700/592 500/505 220/484 
		
	
	
		In addition, the following was provided through Multilateral Organisations (calendar year):
		
			  1997 1998 1999 2000 
		
		
			 Kazakhstan 1,900 2,300 1,700 1,300 
			 Kyrgyzstan 11,600 9,100 2,800 5,900 
			 Tajikistan 3,000 4,900 2,700 3,900 
			 Turkmenistan 500 800 700 400 
			 Uzbekistan 1,200 1,700 2,000 1,600 
		
	
	Amounts pledged and delivered to each country since September 2001 are not readily available. Allocations for 2002/2003 financial year are:
	
		
			  
		
		
			 Kazakhstan 800 
			 Kyrgyzstan 3,500 
			 Tajikistan 500 
			 Turkmenistan 100 
			 Uzbekistan 500

East Timor

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much money her Department has (a) pledged and (b) delivered to (i) the new Government of East Timor, (ii) non-Governmental organisations in East Timor, (iii) multi-lateral programmes specifically aimed at East Timor and (iv) multi-lateral programmes including East Timor; and if she will make a statement.

Clare Short: Britain, together with the wider international community, remains committed to helping secure sustainable and equitable development for East Timor and its people. We are the fourth largest bilateral donor. Details of commitments and disbursements to East Timor for the period 1999 to 2005 are as follows:
	
		
			 Activity Commitment 1999–2005 £ Disbursed £ 
		
		
			 United Nations: 1999 ballot 800,000 800,000 
			 Humanitarian and Emergency Relief 6,500,000 6,500,000 
			 United Nations Transitional Administration 4,500,000 4,500,000 
			 United Nations: Support for 2001 Elections 500,000 500,000 
			 World Bank Trust Fund (infrastructure) 8,000,000 8,000,000 
			 Support for Developing the National Development Plan (NDP) 300,000 - 
			 NDP Implementation 2002–2005 12,000,000 - 
			 OXFAM: Human Resource Development 1,890,000 590,000 
			 Civil Society and International NGOs 67,831 25,809 
			 Local Civil Society Organisations 450,000 94,579 
			 UK share of European Commission Expenditure, 1999–2005* 19,728,000 14,200,000 
			 Total 54,735,831 35,210,388 
		
	
	*Estimated UK attribution at 19 per cent. of EU expenditure in East Timor

Commonwealth Development Corporation

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what the value was of CDC investments in agribusiness in (a) Africa and (b) China in (i) 1998, (ii) 1999, (iii) 2000 and (iv) 2001, (A) in money terms and (B) as a proportion of all new investments; and if she will make a statement.

Clare Short: The value of CDC's new investments in agribusiness in Africa and China over the last four years is shown below, along with their proportion in relation to all new investments.
	
		
			 (A) value in £m 1998 1999 2000 2001 
		
		
			 Africa 14 6.1 6.2 0.6 
			 China 0 0 0 0 
		
	
	(B) as proportion of total of all new investments
	
		
			  
		
		
			 Africa 6.2% 2.2% 2.4% 0.4% 
			 China 0 0 0 0 
		
	
	CDC has no agribusiness investments in China.

UN Commission on Human Rights

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much the UK Government have provided to the UN Commission on Human Rights for each of the last five years.

Clare Short: DFID provides strategic support to the OHCHR through an Institutional Strategic Partnership. The partnership runs from January 2000 to December 2002 and to date we have provided £3.4 million. The objectives of the partnership are to enhance the capacity of OHCHR in order to support the development and management of its field programmes and operations; to mainstream all human rights across the work of the UN system; to integrate economic, social and cultural rights into its work; and to provide human rights information to other implementing agencies. In order to ensure that the OHCHR is able to comply with the mandates given to the OHCHR at the Commission on Human Rights, and that the special procedures of the Commission on Human Rights operate efficiently, DFID includes the servicing of these special procedures in its support to the central capacity of the OHCHR.

Southern Africa

Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what actions Her Majesty's Government are undertaking to extend the availability of affordable anti-AIDS/HIV drugs in Southern Africa.

Clare Short: The Government are supporting an expanding programme to combat HIV/AIDS in Southern Africa (South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho and Swaziland). Part of this involves strengthening South Africa's lead on essential drugs for the South African Development Community, and strengthening the essential drugs programme in South Africa to improve legislation, procurement and pricing for HIV/AIDS and other drugs.
	We are also taking action at a global level. The Working Group on Access to Medicines, which I chair, is working with the pharmaceutical industry, foundations, developing countries and the World Health Organisation, World Trade Organisation and the European Commission to look at the feasibility of a global differential pricing mechanism for essential medicines. But the Government recognises that affordability is only one of four key factors that influence access to medicines. Others are the need for sustainable financing, the rational selection and use of existing drugs and reliable health and supply systems.
	On sustainable financing we have pledged $200 million over 5 years to the Global Fund to Fight TB, AIDS and Malaria (GFATM), of which South Africa is already a beneficiary and to which other countries in the region have access. We have also committed over £1 billion since 1997 to strengthening developing countries' health systems, building their capacity both to deliver medicines to the poor and to make effective choices about the selection and use of drugs.

EC Advisory Committees

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what the mandate of the Committee on Economic Aid to the Countries of Central and Eastern Europe and for the Co-ordination of Aid to the Candidate Countries under the Pre-accession Strategy Phase is; how many times it has met over the last 12 months; what the UK representation on it is; what the annual cost of its work is to public funds; if she will list the items currently under its consideration; if she will take steps to increase its accountability and transparency to Parliament; and if she will make a statement.

Clare Short: There are two relevant committees; they cover the EC's PHARE (originally: Poland and Hungary Assistance for the Reconstruction of the Economy) and ISPA (Instrument for Structural Policies for Pre-Accession) programmes. The mandate of the PHARE Committee is to oversee the implementation of Council Regulation EEC Number 3906 of 18 December 1989, which established PHARE, and its subsequent amendments. The ISPA Committee oversees the implementation of Council Regulation EC Number 1267–1999, which established ISPA. They determine the strategy framework for PHARE and ISPA, and approve annual and multi-annual allocations to country and regional programmes.
	The PHARE Committee has met eight times in the last year, the ISPA Committee, three times. The UK is represented by the Department for International Development (DFID) and the UK Permanent Representation to the European Commission.
	The annual cost to public funds of the Committee's work principally comprises the work of DFID officials in assessing and discussing with the EC strategy and programme proposals, as well as the costs of attendance at meetings of the Committees. The precise amounts concerned are not readily available.
	The items most recently considered under the Phare Committee were: the final part of the 2002 National Programme for Slovenia, the OLAF (European Anti-Fraud Office) 2002 Multi-Beneficiary Programme and the SIGMA (Support for Improvement in Governance and Management) 2002 Multi-Beneficiary Programme. The ISPA Committee recently considered a range of nineteen environment and seven transport projects across the range of Candidate countries.
	Pre-accession programmes and/or work related to them are subject to scrutiny by Select Committees of Parliament. Under Council Decision 1999/468/EC the EC has undertaken to publish an annual report on the working of committees. The first such report was deposited in the libraries of both Houses on 26 February (Commission Document 5685/02). We have encouraged the EC to make available on its website a record of every comitology committee, its agendas and recent actions.

EC Advisory Committees

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what the mandate of the Committee on the development and consolidation of democracy and the rule of law and on the respect of human rights and fundamental freedoms is; how many times it has met over the last 12 months; what the UK representation on it is; what the annual cost of its work is to public funds; if she will list the items currently under its consideration; if she will take steps to increase its accountability and transparency to Parliament; and if she will make a statement.

Clare Short: The Human Rights and Democracy Committee is a Management Committee composed of Representatives of European Union Member States. Commission Services in charge of dealing with Human Rights and Democracy activities funded by Chapter B7-7 of the European Union Budget, have to consult or inform this Committee about the most important decisions they are entitled to take relating to this domain.
	The main roles of the Committee are to be consulted on the annual version of the Human Rights and Democracy Multi-annual Programming Document elaborated under the responsibility of the Directorate-General External Relations; to approve Human Rights and Democracy projects identified by EuropeAid Co-operation Office for which the financial contribution is more than one million euro, (the Committee is simply informed when the amount is less than one million euro); to exchange views with Commission services about any geographical or thematic issues that have an impact on Human Rights and Democracy projects and programmes; to consider evaluations of the activities financed from Chapter B7-7 of the European Union Budget. Details of all projects currently overseen by the Committee are available on the website: http://europa.eu.int/comm/europeaid/ projects/ddh_en.htm.
	The Committee has met six times in the last 12 months. The UK is represented by officials from DFID and the FCO, as well as from the UK Permanent Representation to the EU. Travel costs for DFID officials to attend meetings of the Committee are met by the European Commission. Other costs incurred for attending this Committee totalled £424.00 (four hundred and twenty-four pounds) in the past twelve months.
	Together with Member States, the Commission is currently conducting a review to bring existing legislation on the conduct of comitology committees into line with Council Decision 1999/468/EC, to
	"simplify the requirements for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission".
	As an obligation to this Decision, the Commission undertook to publish an annual report on the working of committees. The first report was deposited in the Libraries of both Houses on 26 February 2002 (Com (2001) 783 Final).
	As part of the review process, the UK Government has encouraged the Commission to produce and maintain an electronic database of every comitology committee, its agendas and recent actions, to be accessible through its website.

EU Aid

John Lyons: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what measures her Department is taking to increase EU aid to poor people in the poorest countries.

Clare Short: We published a revised strategy for improving the poor performance of the European Community development programme in August 2001, a copy of which is available in the Library of the House. We welcome the positive steps that have recently been taken, including establishment for the first time of an EC Development Policy with poverty reduction as the central objective. The Commission are also delegating significant new responsibilities to their offices overseas in order to improve communication with developing country partners and cut delays. The Government is working with other member states, the Commission and the European Parliament to try to ensure that these measures begin to have an impact on the ground and allow the European Community to make a much more significant contribution to achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. We are also working to try to reach agreement that a much greater share of EC aid should be allocated to low income countries where it will have the greatest impact on poverty reduction. In 2000, only 38 per cent. of EC aid was spent in low-income countries compared to 70 per cent. in 1990.
	Our objective is to reverse this decline in order to secure radical improvement in the effectiveness of EC aid. Not all member states, Commissioners or MEPs support this objective.
	The Government will continue to push for allocations based on developmental needs to countries committed to reducing poverty through all the channels available to us including the 2003 budget negotiations and the revision of the Asia and Latin America Regulation.

Correspondence

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many letters were received by each Minister in her Department in each month since June 1997.

Clare Short: The Cabinet Office, on an annual basis, publishes a report to Parliament on the volume of Members' correspondence received by departments. The Report for 2001 was published on Friday 24 May. Copies of previous reports are available in the Library of the House.
	Information on Correspondence received from members of the public is not held centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost

Bali Summit

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many staff from her Department will travel to Bali to participate in the mini-summit for discussion of environmental issues.

Clare Short: Three officials from my department will be attending the Fourth Preparatory Committee meeting for the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD). In addition, two DFID officials who specialise in water and private sector issues will be accompanying the delegation in the first week to assist in specific meetings.

Sierra Leone

John MacDougall: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much aid the UK has allocated to Sierra Leone in each of the last five years.

Clare Short: The UK's total development assistance to Sierra Leone over the last five years, including non-DFID debt relief, was as follows:
	
		
			  £(m) 
		
		
			 1996–97 10.8 
			 1997–98 3.3 
			 1998–99 9.2 
			 1999–2000 30.0 
			 2000–01 35.1 
		
	
	Finalised figures for 2001–02 are not yet available.

Press Releases

Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many press releases have been issued by her Department in each month of 2002.

Clare Short: The information requested is given in the table:
	
		
			  2002 
		
		
			 January 5 
			 February 4 
			 March 1 
			 Apr 1 
			 May 2 
			 Total 13

Press Releases

Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many press releases were issued by her Department (a) in each month between May and December 1997 and (b) in each year from 1998 to 2001 inclusive.

Clare Short: The information is shown in the table:
	
		
			  1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 
		
		
			 January  7 8 7 7 
			 February  7 2 2 4 
			 March  15 8 2 6 
			 April  9 11 4 3 
			 May 7 3 4 2  
			 June 6 3 3  4 
			 July 5 3 6 3 1 
			 August 3 1 9  3 
			 Septemer 7 5 7 3 1 
			 October 9 5 4 2 1 
			 November 7 11 14 3 5 
			 December 3 5 6 1 3 
			 Total 47 74 82 29 38

Afghanistan

Ann Clwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development on what date her Department received reports and representations from the International Committee of the Red Cross regarding the conditions of fighters held in Shibergan prison in Afghanistan; and what action her Department has taken.

Clare Short: My Department has not received reports or representations from the International Committee of the Red Cross regarding Shibergan prison in Afghanistan. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office is pursuing this issue.

Afghanistan

Patsy Calton: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent action the Government have taken to protect women in Afghanistan.

Clare Short: In Afghanistan women have begun to return to work and girls are going back to school. Two women hold office in the Afghan Interim Administration (AIA) and 11 per cent. of seats in the Loya Jirga are guaranteed for women. The UK is working closely with the AIA and the rest of the international community, to ensuring women's full and effective participation in civil, cultural, economic, political and social life throughout Afghanistan. To date this includes an allocation of $1 million to the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) for a programme to support Afghan women's leadership through awareness raising, capacity building and gender mainstreaming; as well as local level, quick impact recovery projects supporting women. We are also providing support directly to the Ministry for Women.

Occupied Palestinian Territories

Ann Clwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment her Department has made of food shortages in the Occupied Palestinian Territories; and what aid is being provided by the UK Government.

Clare Short: We have recently provided £500,000 to the World Food Programme, and our contributions to UNRWA's Emergency Appeals—£5 million this year—help meet the food needs of the refugee population. We are closely monitoring the situation and stand ready to do more.

Debt Sustainability

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will make a statement on the impact of changes in commodity prices on debt sustainability and the HIPC Initiative.

Clare Short: At the Annual Meetings of the World Bank and IMF in Ottawa last November, we raised this concern and asked Bank and Fund staff to revisit the debt sustainability analyses of all commodity dependent low-income countries, including the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC). The IMF and World Bank analysis, published last month, shows that, although the situation varies from country to country, the external debt indicators for most HIPC countries have deteriorated, and a result several HIPC countries now face unsustainable debt burdens. Following UK pressure, the World Bank and IMF Boards have agreed to provide additional relief countries in this situation. This was reconfirmed at the Spring Meetings last month.

Debt Sustainability

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment she has made of the impact of HIV/AIDS on debt sustainability in developing countries.

Clare Short: When assessing developing countries' debt sustainability, in the context of the Heavily indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative, the IMF and World Bank work with governments in the countries themselves to produce detailed forecasts of export growth, GDP growth and new borrowing. These forecasts take account of all the various factors affecting the countries' economic situation, including the impact of HIV/AIDS, and the need for concessional borrowing to finance their poverty reduction strategies.

Kashmir

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent discussions she has had with the Governments of (a) India and (b) Pakistan regarding developments in Kashmir.

Clare Short: I have not had any recent discussions with either the Government of India or Pakistan about development in Kashmir.

Kashmir

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent advice her Department has issued to British NGOs working in Kashmir.

Clare Short: My Department does not routinely issue advice on conditions in countries where UK based NGOs are operating. Advice or guidance on such issues is provided by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Children's Rights

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps her Department is taking to assist those countries which have signed up to the Convention on the Rights of the Child to protect children's rights to freedom from violence.

Clare Short: We seek to reduce the poverty of children by working to address the causes of deprivation in their communities. Support for children's rights to protection from violence, exploitation and abusive labour is central to our work towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. DFID's plans for tackling child poverty and supporting the rights of children are set out in "Breaking the cycle of child poverty", published earlier this month. A copy will be placed in the Library of the House.

UNGASS Document

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what efforts her Department is making to ensure that the commitments made in the UNGASS, World Fit for Children, outcome document are implemented in the countries her Department works in.

Clare Short: DFID's plans for tackling child poverty are set out in our publication "Breaking the Cycle of Child Poverty", which was launched at the UN Special Session and is available in the Library of the House. Our policies for the reduction of poverty are set out in our published country strategies. The UN General Assembly Special Session on Children reaffirmed the UN commitment to meeting the Millennium Development Goals, which is the central objective of DFID policy.

UNESCO

David Hamilton: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what her Department's priorities are for UNESCO, including the UK's share of UNESCO's assessed budget.

Clare Short: I refer my hon. Friend to our Institutional Strategy Paper for UNESCO, a copy of which has been placed in the Library. It is also available on our website, www.dfid.gov.uk.

Refurbishment Projects

Joan Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will list the refurbishment projects that (a) are in progress and (b) will start within the next six months; and what action is being taken to ensure that these will procure certified timber.

Clare Short: DFID is, in the next three months, due to commence a major refurbishment of our East Kilbride office. The detailed specifications for these works are currently being established, but the contractors have been instructed as they were for the refurbishment of 1 Palace Street, that all timber and veneers are to be sourced from sustainably managed forests, in accordance with the relevant DEFRA guidelines. My Department will also ensure that appropriate checks are carried out to ensure that these requirements are met, as they were in 1 Palace Street, despite false claims to the contrary.

Liberia

John Barrett: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many Liberians have fled their country following conflict between the Liberian Government forces and the rebel Liberians United for Reconciliation and Development.

Clare Short: Since the start of this year, UNHCR estimate that around 24,000 Liberians have sought refuge in neighbouring countries as a result of fighting between the Liberian army and rebel forces. Most of these have entered Sierra Leone (some 14,000), though around 6,000 have gone to Guinea, and 4,000 to Cote d'Ivoire.

Liberia

John Barrett: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assistance she has offered to the (a) United Nations and (b) Cote d'Ivoire to deal with refugees fleeing Liberia.

Clare Short: Since the start of this year, DFID has contributed £2 million to UN agencies and to the International Committee for the Red Cross for their work with refugees and displaced people in the West Africa. We have provided no support directly to the Government of Cote d'Ivoire.

Malawi

John Lyons: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent discussions she has had on the situtation in Malawi.

Clare Short: I and my officials are in ongoing discussions with all relevant institutions about the situation in Malawi.

Malawi

John Lyons: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she has reviewed the decision to freeze Britain's £12.5 million of bilateral aid to Malawi.

Clare Short: DFID has allocated £70 million for Malawi in 2002–03. Of this £25 million is set aside for direct budget support. Budgetary support is currently suspended as the Government of Malawi has failed to carry out a number of agreed economic and financial reform measures crucial to progression in poverty reduction in Malawi. I am currently considering redirecting the first tranche of funds set aside for budgetary support to provide additional fund assistance to Malawi.

Palestinian Authority

John Lyons: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what aid has been made available to the Palestinian Authority to assist in reconstruction and regeneration.

Clare Short: World Bank-led teams have recently completed a damage assessment following the IDF incursions in the West Bank during April. The physical infrastructure rebuilding costs amount to $360 million. We have agreed to provide technical support for the reconstruction of Jenin camp. Our on-going programmes in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and our enhanced support to the United Nation Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees, help address a wide range of Palestinian development needs.

External Consultants

Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much expenditure her Department has incurred in each year since 1997 on employing external consultants to deal with the press or public relations of her Department.

Clare Short: DFID provided £120,000 in 1998 for work by a public relations consultancy to raise awareness of malaria as part of the Roll Back Malaria initiative led by the World Health Organisation.

HIPC

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much aid is being provided to HIPC by the UK as a proportion of GDP; and if she will make a statement.

Clare Short: Bilateral debt relief provided by the UK in 2001 accounted for 0.024 per cent. of Gross National Income (GNI), out of total official development assistance of 0.32 per cent. of GNI. In addition, we provided £23 million in 2001–02 to an international Trust Fund managed by the World Bank which finances relief on multilateral debt.

Somalian Refugees

John Barrett: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how many Somalian refugees are believed to be camped in (a) Kenya and (b) Ethiopia

Clare Short: The latest figures from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees indicate there are (a) 129,800 Somalian refugees in Kenya and (b) 50,906 Somalian refugees in Ethiopia. The Kenya figure does not include approximately 10,000 people who have crossed the border into Kenya at Mandera this month.